A 155 foot cell phone tower proposed for Gillett Road in the Town of Ogden is raising concern among some residents.
The Ogden Planning Board has scheduled a public hearing Thursday, October 9 at 7 p.m. at the Ogden Community Center regarding the wireless telecommunications tower. Verizon Wireless is requesting a special use permit to construct and operate the tower which would have an additional 4 foot lightning rod at the top.
In a letter to the Suburban News, a Brower Road resident questions the need for another cell tower in the town. “We already have one cell tower … on Gillett … and (another) on Vroom Road. How many cell towers do we need in such close proximity?” the resident writes and describes the towers as “unsightly.”
Ogden Building Inspector Patrick Smith says it appears the tower is well within code and explains that under federal law, the Planning Board cannot deny the permit if the utility is experiencing an outage in coverage in a certain area.
“The federal government has tied everybody’s hands,” Smith says. He notes the town can set standards and conditions as well as request modifications to the proposal, such as “trees planted around the operations on the ground,” but if Verizon is applying for the permit, it’s likely they do have an outage in the area of Gillett and Whittier Roads.
Smith referenced the 1993 New York Court of Appeals Cellular Telephone Co. v. Rosenberg decision which held that cellular telephone service is a public utility.
A legal memorandum posted on the New York State Department of State website regarding municipal regulation of cellular telephone towers and antennas states that under the ruling, “cellular phone towers are ‘public utility facilities,’ which gives them greater protection against restrictive zoning rules than if they were deemed instead to be ordinary commercial uses of land.”
