Cell antennas could be coming to the Rehoboth Boardwalk as soon as next summer - 2021.
AT&T already has two stealth-style cell antennas in Rehoboth Beach - one on top of the Delaware Avenue restroom that’s built into a small cupola and the other on top of one of four recreational lights the City has right on the Boardwalk tucked away in a small can-like box.
Now there’s a proposal by Verizon for additional cell antennas - as we hear from Rehoboth Mayor Stan Mills, “What Verizon is proposing obviously is a lot more - 17 I believe - total on the Boardwalk. Aesthetics is very important to us in Rehoboth Beach. And our public works supervisor knows that aesthetics is important and he’s been working with Verizon on the design.”
Mayor Mills says at this time - the proposed design from Verizon is to erect new Boardwalk light poles that look almost identical to the current light poles.
He says the new poles will be about a quarter inch in diameter bigger at the top and maybe an inch bigger at the bottom; the frost light globe at the top would be exactly the same.
The only real difference - according to Mills - is that the new globes would include a ring of antennas just underneath the base of the light. The Mayor says that look “somewhat offends him,” because it’s so much different than the current light globes with no antennas.
The new antennas are currently in the permit process and are expected to be installed next summer.
Rehoboth officials have also given Verizon conditional approval to install antennas on Baltimore and Wilmington Avenues and Philadelphia and Christian Streets.
Mills says there are also five antennas in the median along Rehoboth Avenue in the final stages of review right now.
