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Capital improvements being made at Glen Maury Park for the upcoming summer season include bringing Wi-Fi service to the upper campground, the double-decker pavilion and the municipal swimming pool.
In order to accomplish this in a cost-effective manner, a small Wi-Fi transmitter will need to be installed on Enderly Heights Elementary School that will deliver a lineof sight signal to a second transmitter on the doubledecker pavilion at the top of the park. A request to mount a transmitter on the school was made by the city to the School Board at its March meeting.
Appearing before the School Board to make this request was Tom Roberts, the city’s director of community development, and Dusan Janic of Virginia Technology Solu- tions. Janic explained that the transmitter, which resembles a small satellite dish, would transmit a t ight b eam o f a n internet signal to a second transmitter on the doubledecker pavilion.
The school, said Roberts, “is positioned well enough so that there’s a good line of sight to the double-decker pavilion.” Janic noted that putting the transmitter on the school “is a very cost-effective solution. It’s not very expensive – it’s $700 and that’s about it.”
Already using some services of Virginia Technology Solutions, installing the system at EHES would not be intrusive, they said. The small Wi-Fi dish would be placed on the exterior of the school building with a fiber wire that would run to the school’s technology server room located in the library. The city’s wire would not affect the school’s system as it would be using a separate electricity port in the server room, Janic said.
“So, to put that there it would save the city a significant amount of money?” Buena Vista School Board member Mac Felts quipped. “Remember that!”
As warmer weather approaches, Roberts and Janic expressed hope that the School Board will grant its permission in April for putting the transmitter on the school, so that Wi-Fi service will be available for campers at the park for this season. In the meantime, Janic will meet with the division’s director of technology, Robin Williams, to locate a spot for the transmitter on the school building.
Plans for expanding Wi-Fi service at the park is coming in the midst of other major improvements. Electrical service is being upgraded for all of the park’s camp sites and the sites in the lower campground are being reconfigured with additional sites added. In early May, a new playground is to be installed near the entrance of the park.
Editor’s note: Ed Smith contributed information to this story.
