Cell Tower May Be on Horizon for Sagaponack Village

Improved cellular service could be coming soon to Sagaponack Village.

The Village Board was expected to discuss the installation of a new cell tower at Village Hall at its February 14 meeting.

The tower would improve what has been spotty, at best, coverage for residents and visitors to the village, as well as for police, first responders and other vital community services in the area over the last few years.

The tower would be 100 feet tall, and would either be built as a regular looking tower or would be designed to look like a pine tree.

Sagaponack Village Mayor Bill Tillotson said late last week that the potential addition of a cell tower at village hall was before the previous administration, but it did not get done because, at that time, the board needed to expand the back end of Village Hall for records storage, and they were unsure if there would be enough room to put the tower in behind the building after the expansion.

“That’s been completed, and the tower company came back with a proposal that required less square footage and would fit,” Tillotson said earlier this week.

He added that the tower company has a lease on a piece of property near the Old Stove Pub, which had been considered as an alternate site, but the tower will likely end up at Village Hall.

“When they came to us and saw we might be receptive, they kind of shifted their focus to us,” Tillotson said of the Village Hall location.

Tillotson said he thinks it is a better area for the cell tower.

“It provides income for the village, and I think it’s a better location visually,” he said.

A portion of the income earned by the tower company from cellular providers that will use the tower will go to the village. Public services will be provided space for their antennas on the tower at no charge.

Tillotson said that, so far, he had not received any communications from residents in opposition to the tower since the village sent out an email on February 5 to property owners letting them know the board would be discussing the matter at the February 14 meeting.

“My own opinion is that if everything works out, it’s a good idea,” Tillotson said. “We definitely need service. We have a lot of problems with private calls, and you always see police cars parked in odd spots that are the only spots where you can get cell service to file reports. It can be spotty on the beachfront, too, and if you have a swimmer in danger or something going on at the beach it would be definitely be a help to have better service.”