A boost to parks in Lakeshore.
At their council meeting on August 15, Lakeshore councillors agreed to provide a Letter of Support to Gosfield North Communications which will bring free public WiFi Internet service at a number of parks in the municipality.
Officials say the service will be a significant step towards enhancing digital connectivity for residents and visitors.
Lakeshore is the first municipality in Essex County to benefit from the initiative, which was made possible by a grant awarded to Gosfield North Communications through Connecting Windsor-Essex.
Mayor Tracey Bailey says this service will be yet another reason to visit Lakeshore's incredible parks and public spaces and is a step towards digital inclusion and accessibility.
"The addition of free WiFi will help bridge the digital divide and provide free access to reliable Internet to individuals and community members who need it most."
The project will see the installation of necessary infrastructure at each of the designated public locations including:
- Optimist Park, 775 Tecumseh Road
- Ladouceur/Lions Park, 245 Ouellette Street
- Lakeshore Town Hall, 419 Notre Dame Street
- Duck Creek Park, 130 Duck Creek Boulevard
- Lakeview Park (trail and marina), 10 Lake Street
- Millen Park, 1925 South Middle Road
- Orioles Park, 1409 Oriole Park Drive
- Comber Fairgrounds Park, 6211 McCallister Street
Michael Martin, Lakeshore's division leader of digital transformation and cloud services, says while people usually look at going out to parks as an opportunity to disconnect that's not always the case.
"You know there's a variety of use cases where you might want to stay connected. Maybe you're trying to watch your other kid play sports at a different location than where you're at, or you might be able to have better quality FaceTime calls or something. You've got technology at your disposal to help make that a reality," he said.
Martin says Gosfield is being supported by a grant from FedDev Ontario, and they partnered with them to make it a reality.
"This is something that Gosfield and the Municipality have worked on together in the past, and this was a Gosfield initial initiative to start expanding the program offering once that government funding was made available to them."
Gosfield North Communications will be responsible for the ongoing operation, maintenance, and support of the service.
To facilitate ease of use, signage will be erected at each location, along with contact information for assistance.
Gosfield General Manager Don Casemore says they have proudly delivered high-speed fibre connections to numerous residences over the years, and this transformative project further exemplifies their dedication to fostering stronger communities.
Casemore says it's a fantastic initiative.
"It no doubt connects people when they're watching sport activities within the park itself, or enjoying a leisureful day within the park itself," he continued. "People can work, they can play on the Internet, they have free access and it does not cost them anything on their data plans or from a home environment standpoint."
Casemore says they're currently working with Lakeshore to obtain all the permits needed, and once that is done they'll begin trenching fibre optic to the parks.
"Once fibre optic is completed, then it's a matter of just erecting the actual radio transmitters within the various parks and then connecting the devices to our network. We do anticipate that this is not a great amount of effort it's just a timely matter based on when we can actually access the parks, as well as the weather permitting, to be able to perform the work," he said.
The free WiFi service in Lakeshore's parks is expected to be available by mid-2024, but Casemore says they hope to be able to provide it even sooner than that.