Massapequa Park halts work on wireless boxes

In the latest Long Island dispute over cellular equipment expansion, Massapequa Park has halted a company's installation of nine residential transmitters until local concerns can be discussed publicly.

The village issued a stop-work order Tuesday to NextG Networks, which had started mounting the signal boxes on utility poles. After a November hearing, village leaders believed NextG would present a plan to use smaller, more aesthetically pleasing equipment.

But Massapequa Park does not require a permit for work on a public utility right-of-way, and NextG said it had already notified the village that it would be moving forward.

Residents have objected to the boxes, saying they would be a neighborhood blight and would lower property values.

"It's imperative that we protect and preserve residents' rights," Mayor James Altadonna Jr. said Wednesday. "So if I can get the smallest box possible, with the minimum effect on housing value, that's my goal."

NextG's standard pole-top boxes - there are about 300 on Long Island - are 48 inches tall, 10 inches deep and 15 inches wide. The California company said it will use them to provide enhanced wireless network service in the area, but did not disclose which provider it will work with.

Altadonna has invited the company to the Jan. 10 board meeting to discuss alternatives.

"We are happy to work with them," Patrick Ryan, NextG's vice president of government relations, wrote in an e-mail.

Massapequa Park is the most recent Long Island municipality to resist additional wireless antennas, towers or boxes. Last week Hempstead rejected a T-Mobile plan to erect six antennas on the roof of the Farmingdale-Wantagh Jewish Center.

And in Merrick a group of residents sued NextG over antennas in that community. The suit was dismissed in March.