Ill Feeling on Tower
The 150-foot communications antenna erected behind the Springs Firehouse, which surprised neighbors and prompted a rash of complaints about its safety and aesthetics, drew a crowd to the firehouse for a meeting of the Springs Fire District Board of Commissioners on Monday night.
Virtually every speaker thanked the elected commissioners and fire department volunteers who work under them for their public service but decried the lack of public discussion before the board of commissioners had the antenna put up.
“The tower’s probably going to be there to stay,” said Patrick Glennon, who heads the board of commissioners.
Placing antennas for the two-way radios and pagers used by the volunteer firefighters and ambulance corps members on the pole will provide coverage in the dead spots throughout Springs, commissioners have said, which is key to ensuring the safety of residents and volunteers. In the future, Mr. Glennon explained last week, the antenna’s height could make it possible to tie in to county dispatching systems.
The commissioners signed a 30-year contract with a company called Elite Towers, which owns the structure.
At the top of the antenna, six smaller antennas for fire district communications will be placed: two that are four feet long, two six feet long, and two at eight feet, nine inches.
Inside the structure, Mr. Glennon said Monday, space can be rented to cellular communications companies. AT&T has reportedly already applied to install its equipment there.
Elite will pay the fire district a flat fee of $1,500 a month, Mr. Glennon said, along with $3,000 per month per cellular carrier that it rents to. The company will receive the bulk of the cell companies’ rent. A maximum of five companies can put equipment inside the antenna, commissioners said.
Many in the crowd on Monday seemed ready to accept that better emergency communications, both on the two-way radios and on pagers used by the district, is needed — and even perhaps that it would necessitate a tall antenna.
But the commissioners, they said, had made no such case to the community. “The issue is . . . if this is so necessary, if this is so good for the community . . . why did it happen suddenly and without notice?” David Buda asked.
“We want to work with you, so that your needs can be met, and our concerns can be addressed,” said David Kelley, an attorney who lives on neighboring Talmage Farm Lane and a spokesperson for concerned neighbors. “We’d like to have that dialogue; we’d like to avoid litigation,” he said.
Mr. Kelley asserted that the commissioners had run afoul of “upwards of 7 to 10 town codes that are intended to protect the environment and the people around this town.”
The fire district’s exemption for local zoning codes is not a given, he said, but must be assessed and specifically granted, according to previous case law, and in this case “will be challenged and defeated.”
Provisions of the State Environmental Quality Review Act should have been followed, he and others said, and would have dictated a look at potential harm from the antenna, and alternatives.
In speaking to his neighbors on Talmage Farm Lane, Krae Van Sickle said, “I didn’t run into anybody who wasn’t appalled by this process. I appeal to you guys to try to avoid this train wreck. We know there are alternatives,” he said, to applause.
“In the research we have done, there clearly are alternatives that would have been less intrusive,” said Mary Spitzer, a neighbor.
“The point is, did anybody do their homework?” asked Larry Mayer. He and others questioned whether the commissioners had adequately researched options for solving the communication problems before accepting the deal offered by Elite Towers.
“It’s a shame,” said Ana Nunez, a fire department member. “We would like to see what surveys were done, what areas [of coverage] are needed the most. . . .”
“When we take this office . . . we’re looking out for the tax dollars,” said Mr. Glennon. “We were looking for the most cost-effective way to do it.”
Rachel Kleinberg, a Springs resident and the mother of an infant, who can see the tower from her backyard, thanked the commissioners for putting the antenna up. “If I need to call 911, I want that message to get to all the volunteers,” she said.
“I am torn between deep gratitude and sincere concern about the tower — and the process as much,” said Tracey Frazier, a teacher at the Springs School. “What we would appreciate is dialogue and conversation around it so that we feel we are part of the decision-making process.”
“You’re representatives; this was a fast one, guys,” Debra Foster told the commissioners. “Will you please have a meeting where you can answer these legitimate questions?”