Council May Approve Telecom Pact Tonight

With new regulations in place, the City Council tonight could approve its first contract involving telecommunications equipment in public places.

Unlike trash and cable television contracts, the proposed franchise agreement with Metricom Inc. would be nonexclusive. The Northern California firm would hang radio transmitters from light poles and traffic lights to create a network to connect computers. Instead of using swamped telephone lines, the grid system would send information through a radio frequency band.

Under the proposed 10-year franchise agreement, the city would get 5% of the company’s gross from Laguna Hills customers. A pole fee of $60 for each installation of the device would also go to the city.

Metricom plans to hook up about 40 of the shoe-box-size devices throughout Laguna Hills, city officials said.

The council passed an ordinance in April to regulate the visual problems and safety issues regarding installation of the radios on public property.

Metricom has approached several other Orange County communities, including Placentia and Los Alamitos, where city officials recently approved the radios.