AURORA - While the idea for a wireless Aurora is still only an idea, one local company is interested in working with the village in deciding whether or not to pursue the venture.

Joe Fronczek, of Global Fusion in Auburn, spoke with Aurora Village Board members Wednesday night about the logistics of setting up a municipal wireless system. Currently, only 157 communities nationwide are wireless, Fronczek said, in seven to 10 years it will likely be closer to the norm.

“Everybody's going wireless,” Fronczek said. “Whether or not you want to be computer literate, you kind of have to be.”

The idea was proposed by village trustee George Farenthold, who said he would like Aurora to be on the forefront of the

wireless movement in the area.

If the village created its own system, Fronczek estimated it would cost in the $20,000- to $25,000-range to build a system with the capacity to hold 300 to 400 people, though he said he would need to do a site survey to know exact costs. The system, he said, would be able to extend for 2.5 to 3 miles without any problems, he said. Though still preliminary, Fronczek said the village could likely generate enough revenue in three to five years to recoup all costs.

The village would own and operate the wireless system, as opposed to a private company like Time Warner. Fronczek said the village would likely need to charge a fee for users to subscribe to the village system. Users would pay a fee and would access the system through a code and a wireless card.

With Wells College already moving forward on installing wireless hot spots on the campus, both mayor Tom Gunderson and deputy mayor Ken Zabriskie expressed concerns over whether there would be enough other customers in the village to operate a profitable system. There are also already some wireless hot spots in the village.

“What scares me is the scale of what this could be,” Gunderson said. “This is a small village.”

Grant money for the installation is available, which could cut initial costs, Fronczek said. He estimated it would also cost between $700 and $1,400 a month for bandwidth.

Other communities in the region have looked into or implemented partial wireless systems. Canandaigua, for instance, has a wireless downtown district.

Farenthold believes the village should start researching its options.

“We either go digital or we're going to be playing catch up with the people around the lake, and the people around the country,” he said. “This is part of the infrastructure as much as street and bricks and mortar and clean water.”

In other news:

-Planning board member Grace Bates updated board members about David Kirk's decision last week to withdraw his application to purchase and renovate the Lyon House along Main Street. Kirk informed the planning board that the costs were currently too great to proceed with the project.

While Bates said Kirk's main reason for pulling out of his project to renovate the house and use it for his art and animation studio was the cost, she also said the planning board would like to move forward with other village boards and interested parties to find a compromise to the Webb House dispute, which a couple of months ago led to a lawsuit against the Aurora Foundation, which owns the house.

The board, she said, is concerned that the litigation, which could go on for years, could prevent people from being able to purchase and fix three structures in disrepair - the Webb House, the Lyon House and the Lake House. The Lyon house can not be purchased until the Webb House is moved, she said, and the Webb House is currently tied up in litigation.

As planning board members, Bates said everyone on the board is concerned about the state of those structures. She added, however, that the board was not intending to place blame on anyone.

“It's unfair to make any charges against anyone in the village,” Bates said. “The whole issue needs a resolution. (We don't want) this enormous hole in the middle of the village.”

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net