Dominican Hall: Internet speed-up planned.
Two new 5G antennae are being installed to keep the broadband up to speed at Albertus Magnus College and its surrounding area.
The two Verizon 5G ultra-wide broadband antennae are being mounted on Albertus’s Dominican Hall to augment the array that’s already there.
The new antennae — along with a slight orientation of existing antennae structures — are out of public view. Still they require a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals. Board members voted unanimously to grant the variance Tuesday night at their regular Zoom-assisted monthly public hearing.
The antennae, explained Verizon rep Ken Baldwin, are technically new encroachments into the setback requirements. That’s why a variance was needed.
“The nature of the technology is those antennae need to be located close enough to the roof edge, so that the building itself doesn’t affect antenna transmission pattern from each of those structures,” Baldwin said.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, the only speaker was local attorney Ben Trachten, a frequent presence at BZA meetings. He was speaking not as a party to the proposal but as a citizen of a city that critically needs to maintain its tech capability, he said.
“These technology-related applications are so critical to New Haven,” he said, in order to “keep pace with surrounding communities, to keep residents within access of high speed and high bandwidth communications technology. As a resident and someone who uses these technologies every day, I fully support this application and encourage you to approve as presented.”
Upgrades and installation of cell phone transmission equipment by tech companies have not always gone smoothly or unopposed, as was the case with a T‑Mobile 4G upgrade in Fair Haven.
The Albertus installations are part of Verizon’s general 5G rollout, which has been going on in the city for the last several months, Baldwin added. (Click here about one instance in which the company took heat for insufficient notification of neighbors.)