RHINEBECK, N.Y. – Village Board members on Feb. 8 will review a proposed law that will regulate the installation of 5G cellular telephone transmission equipment.
The session is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Village Hall at 76 East Market St..
Mayor Gary Bassett said the law was drafted to address the changes in standards for cellular systems that make it more likely that companies will seek to install sites in the village.
“It’s about co-location, aesthetics, costs,” he said. “It’s a full in-depth law for small wireless facilities.”
In the draft, officials wrote that law is needed to prevent the transmitters from interfering with the uses of streets, sidewalks, and alleys as well as to keep the equipment from creating conditions that are hazardous to vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
The law includes language intended to “ensure diligent efforts are made to preserve the unique character of the village, its aesthetic and architectural qualities, its historic structures, sites, and cultural features.”
Board members also want to maximize the installations to make sure they “provide the benefits of reliable access to wireless telecommunications technology, broadband and 9-1-1 services to residents and visitors to homes, businesses, and schools.”
Under the proposed law, developers would be permitted to place 5G systems on existing cellular towers; roofs of hospitals, libraries, educational use buildings, the Astor Home, and the steeple of a church; utility poles that are not in a right-of-way but are in locations where a utility company has rights of access; and rooftops of existing buildings in the Village Center District.
Installations would not be allowed as an attachment to traffic signals and could not be within 150 feet of another provider’s facility or within 500 feet of the provider’s own existing facilities.
Bassett said the board could set a public hearing on the law if there aren’t major changes to the draft.