The town’s highest elected official said this week that multiple carriers are showing interest in offering service through a new cell tower proposed for northwestern New Canaan.
To be sited in a wooded hill at 1837 Ponus Ridge, just north of the intersection at Dan’s Highway and across the street from Laurel Reservoir, the proposed tower if approved by a state agency would serve New Canaan’s public safety needs and also have traditional cell carriers.
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan told members of the Board of Finance Tuesday night that the Danbury-based wireless infrastructure company that will apply to the Connecticut Siting Council for permission to erect the tower, Homeland Towers, “has had some good news that the carriers are very interested, beyond AT&T which has already signed up in that location.”
“There seems to be a focus away from New York City now, and focusing on the suburbs, with the carriers, because they realize people are working from home and they need to ramp up their service in the suburbs,” Moynihan said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “So I’m getting very good vibes from the carriers that they’re willing to work with us on several locations.”
His comments came during an update to the Board of Finance on various matters before the town.
New Canaan for years has grappled with a lack of cell service through large areas of town, including much of the northeastern and northwestern quadrants. The state in September approved a plan for a cell tower on Soundview Lane in northeastern New Canaan, and Homeland Towers on April 1 filed a building permit for it. Moynihan began talking two years ago about installing a 110-foot-high cell tower near the reservoir in order to improve service in northwestern New Canaan.
Last week, Homeland Towers conducted a “balloon float” test for the proposed tower on Ponus Ridge, Moynihan said.
“I think it appears [and] most people who saw considered it very inconspicuous,” he said. “It’s a very inconspicuous location along Ponus Ridge and certainly you can’t see it from Stamford because it’s so far away.”
Town officials have said in the past that the application for the Ponus Ridge tower likely would not go to the state until August.
The Board of Selectmen in February voted in favor of the communications license agreement with Homeland Towers and an option agreement with the limited liability company that owns the property on Ponus Ridge, 1837 LLC. (The ground lease is between Homeland Towers and the LLC.)