NextG's Next Move

Ever since an outside contractor for NextG Networks was seen on Wickham Road Dec. 17 fiddling with a village-owned light pole, residents continue questioning the board as to whether the utility company's services with benefit Garden City and, if not, why trustees haven't cut ties already.

Legally, as Village Counsel Gary Fishberg explained, it's not that simple.

NextG Networks provides a "backhaul" service for cell phone providers and has been doing business in 30 states across the country. The company boasts increased voice quality, greater handling of call traffic, fewer dropped calls, better mobile coverage, faster file transfers and enhanced video quality through its DAS networks. 

NextG has been in talks with the village for months because it wants to install Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) throughout Garden City.

By way of background, DAS  was developed for college campuses, hospitals and any place where large cell towers don't work.

During early talks, NextG proposed replacing village-owned light poles with its own equipment in 15 locations throughout Garden City. Three different light pole styles were suggested.

At first glance, Mayor Robert Rothschild wasn't thrilled. "I don't like the looks of that," he said.

Since that time, the village has taken an aggressive position with regards to NextG using village-owned poles located in public rights of way, which are located in front of residential homes.

Under the Telecommunications Act, however, NextG does have the right to use poles within utility easements in residential backyards.

"We have no right to ask NextG to demonstrate why their service is good for the village," Fishberg said. "The Telecommunications Act is designed to try to ensure that there's a communications network throughout the country and it is not necessarily to benefit particular residents or particular municipalities."

Pat DiMattia of Cedar Place, president of the Central Property Owners' Association, said allowing NextG to take measurements within the village gives the perception that trustees have given the company the green light of something more to come.

"My problem with NextG and this whole situation is I see no beneficiaries of this whole process. I don't see a resident who needs the service. I don't see businesses or commerce in Garden City receiving any benefit from what they're doing. And without a benefit I fail to understand why we're even allowing them in this village to do whatever it is they're doing," DiMattia said. "Having said that it seems to me if we resolve this issue of who's benefiting from the service and we say there's nobody it clearly makes it a much easier process to just cut ties with NextG."

Trustee John Mauk reminded residents of the legal ramifications if the village chose to be uncooperative.

"The corollary to this is we could take a hard line and say we're not going to cooperate with them, we're not going to deal with them at all. I think that's a very quick way to end up in litigation, which we'd be sure to lose," he said.

Because the village owns the light poles located within the public rights-of-way and has taken a stance against using them, NextG is now investigating the feasibility of using utility easements in rear yards.

The company is currently installing temporary antennas to test the power of its transmissions. "Those tests may be on the curb line but it's with the intention of determining certain backyard locations," Fishberg explained.

Richard Wertis of Euston Road questioned whether the testing is in anticipation of something to come but was relieved to hear Mayor Robert Rothschild say it was in anticipation of "nothing."

NextG has the right to set up networks in communities all over Long Island.  The company has a contract with MetroPCS, which has a build-out design that uses these DAS networks, as opposed to other companies like Verizon and AT&T, which rely on large cell towers, according to Fishberg.

"You have been subject to this system and you probably don't know it. How do you think you get cell phone service when you're inside Roosevelt Field Mall?" Fishberg asked. "How do you think you get cell phone service when you go through the Holland Tunnel or Lincoln Tunnel?"

DiMattia said residents are frustrated.

"Maybe we don't really understand the legal ramifications but just from a practical standpoint it doesn't seem to make an ounce of sense," she said.

Trustee Dennis Donnelly, who worked for Verizon Communications for 35 years, tried to shed some light on the issue, ensuring residents that the village will not see a substantial monetary gain from all this.

"This company has some rights under the Telecommunications Act which we cannot stop. Those rights primarily deal with utility rights-of-way...All of our utilities, for the most part, are in yards on poles, either LIPA poles or Verizon poles," Donnelly explained.

NextG by right could install antenna systems in the backyards of Garden City residents without village permission.

As a courtesy NextG provided Garden City with the locations they are currently testing.

"They're trying to be accommodating. We're trying to be accommodating, understanding that there are certain things they can do that we cannot stop," Donnelly said, adding that NextG is a company that wants to do business in Garden City whether they have any customers or not. 

"They're entitled to try and get them," he said. 

"We've been trying to deal with them in a way that would allow us to get the maximum benefit for the public so that maybe we could find a place for these 15 locations," Donnelly continued, suggesting alternate locations such as Clinton Road, on the east side of the street by the entrance to the water tower or perhaps a pocket park.

"Same ugly pole but it isn't in front of somebody's house," Donnelly said. "Maybe some would have to be in backyards but we're trying to get the best look of this for the people of the village."

Heeding the village's advice, NextG distributed flyers to inform residents that they may be entering onto their property to test equipment.

If NextG finds backyard installations unfeasible, they could press their original argument.

"We're going to have to deal with that," Fishberg said. "But right now the use of the right of way has been put to the side while they look at backyard installations."

Trustee Donnelly said that with the advent of smartphones, people are chewing up bandwidth faster than companies can provide it.

"These systems allow for the growth of bandwidth … A village like Garden City where we have a tremendous amount of people with smartphones, are all on the Internet walking around in space, we're chewing up the bandwidth that's available so there are reasons going forward that these systems are going to be needed even more," he said.

Trustee Andrew Cavanaugh drew an analogy to when Cablevision first started out. 

"They had a business model. They had government empowerment to try and pursue that model. They were able to build a business and indeed make it an essential part of most of our lives. I'm not saying this DAS will become so crucial to our communications reliance or networks but that's where we are. It may not seem to make sense but that is how the business has been developed and how the law has been developed in support of that business model," he said.