Questions have been raised about the Town Board’s decision to honor a lease placing a Wireless Telecommunications Facility (WTF) at the Highway Garage on South Mountain Road. Here are some facts to help set the record straight.
The lease for the Highway property was signed by the town board in May 2011. There was no activity on this lease until September of 2021 when Wireless Edge submitted an application to build a tower. The Town Board held public hearings for 2 months, had 2 balloon tests performed, hired a radio frequency engineer and approved the application in August 2022.
The Cell Tower Background
Wireless Edge, demonstrated a capacity and coverage issue within town and reported this project would remedy the gap. The radio frequency engineer hired by the town confirmed that, and also stated the area suffers from sector saturation, and unreliable service would continue to be an issue if the proposed facility were not constructed, especially as demand continues to increase.
The Cell Tower Property
The location provides a natural buffer of trees along the road so the ground equipment will be concealed at the lower level. The Project will have a limited impact on community-wide scenic views and is the least intrusive available site for the Project, from those submitted in 2010. The facility will be 1,200’ lower than the ridgeline.
Conditions required by Town Board
Being a difficult decision to make the current town board reviewed the comments from the public and placed additional conditions on the special use permit. These were: limit the height to 110’, provide annual rf emissions compliance reports, provide an acceptable decommissioning and removal agreement, provide a performance guaranty, paint the tower a mottled gray and brown to represent tree bark, install sound attenuating enclosure around the generator, provide details on ice management, prohibit illumination other than safety lights, require all utility wires be placed underground.
It is important to note that the Town Board was prohibited from considering alleged health impacts from the proposed tower by the US Telecommunications Act which regulates, the placement and construction of WTF’s, as well as the ability of local governments to enact their own regulations regarding towers. TCA§332 states local governments retain authority to make certain decisions regarding the development of WTF’s subject to limitations in the TCA such as “no local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions. Courts have determined that “environmental effects include health concerns about biological effects of RF radiation. (T-Mobile Northeast LLC v Town of Ramapo, SDNY 2009).
To address this concern, the town board suggested residents contact Congressman Pat Ryan to address the FCC regulations, since it is a federal, not a town regulation.
I hope this gives you a better understanding of the process, please contact me if you would like to discuss this further.