The Battle of Beaverdams Park will not only receive visible upgrades – now the city has decided to install wi-fi in the popular downtown park as a part of its revitalization project.
In city council last night, councillors gave the green light to have a network installed in the park, which can accommodate up to 200 users at the same time through the Niagara Region Broadband Network, NRBN.
City staff, who recommended council approve the $30,000 installation cost, and the roughly $8,000 annual cost to keep the network operational, said the installation is essentially a step up in the city’s infrastructure.
“Free Wi-Fi is becoming a thing across Ontario and frankly North America,” said project manager Curtis Dray to council.
“You see it in all the stores, Tim Hortons, the mall… People will stay and hang out longer, enjoy the area and not neccessarily leave just in order to log on to Wi-Fi.”
All access points will be mounted at a minimum height of 3m to provide sufficient coverage and to reduce possible vandalism, said the city.
While council did not object, Coun. Carmen DeRose questioned if the rationale to keep the network running during the less crowded winter months could be defended.
The money for the internet access will come from the Battle of Beaverdams revitalization budget, which passed earlier this year, as well as $8,000 from the city’s annual operating budget.
