As members of the Boulder City Council approved a 10-year lease for Verizon Wireless antennas to be placed on the South Boulder Recreation Center, the conversation turned to questions regarding 5G technology, reported the Boulder News.
Although Verizon assured the staff that they have no plans yet to deploy 5G in Boulder, the lease was only approved on the condition that Verizon could not make any changes to the facility, including the installation of 5G equipment, without approval by the city.
Because the South Boulder Recreation Center is a city-owned facility but not a city right-of-way, the city is able to give a thumbs up or thumbs down on the lease, and charge Verizon for use of the space.
The resulting lease will bring in about $30,000 per year for the city, and Verizon representatives said it would address lacking cell phone service, reported the News.
Councilwoman Mirabai Nagle described the council’s position as being between a rock and a hard place — it could either approve the lease and pocket the $30,000 annually, or Verizon could select a nearby right-of-way and install the equipment without the same city oversight, she said. Mayor Suzanne Jones said the council will want to examine the issue of telecommunications in conjunction with the city’s buildout of broadband infrastructure.
Since 2000, the city permitted 112 wireless telecommunication facilities in the city, requiring larger cell facilities to be placed on existing buildings to reduce visual clutter. In Boulder, two small cell locations have been approved but not yet built, and another 47 locations are under review, according to Public Works development review manager Edward Stafford.
“It is incumbent upon us before we invest a lot of public dollars and give up a lot of our public right-of-way to new technology that we have done due diligence on public health and safety, and convince the public of the research behind that,” Jones said. “It’s just important for us to pause and educate ourselves and others in the community about the state of the research and health and safety standards, and also the cost-effectiveness of various approaches.”
April 1, 2019
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