Anti-5G advocates lauded new Woodstock rules for regulating the placement of cellular provider equipment as a way to protect against the proliferation of next-generation wireless services. The new regs add restrictions to the placement of so-called small-cell sites, which are used for the millimeter wave variety of 5G wireless service, and introduce setback rules for placements.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said advocate Steve Romine, who introduced the town to telecommunications-industry litigator Andrew Campanelli, who authored much of the new regulations. “By now we should know Andrew Campanelli is very capable and well respected around the country. And he says that this zoning law will be the best in the country and all other municipalities should model it,” Romine said at a November 22 public hearing on the regulations.
Last year, the town agreed to contribute $1500 toward Campanelli’s fees and Romine raised $11,000.
Advocates of the new statutes will have to wait until December 13 for a formal vote, but McKenna and the four council members voiced their intention to vote in favor.
“This is a big deal for us. We’ve put a lot of work into it and I want to thank anyone else who’s been involved on the board who has pushed this forward,” activist Nicole Nevin said. “I want to especially thank Laura Ricci who’s put her heart and soul into it. I’ve seen what she’s done…and it’s been impressive and she’s stuck with it. And she reads everything. It’s been pretty amazing to watch her in action.”
Anti-5G activist Rex Funk agreed. “I think we have a historic opportunity here to join the list of towns that are adopting legislation like this,” he said. “Without this, they might be able to just put it wherever they want, and we should have a say in that.”
Ricci thanked the advocates for their perseverance and cooperation in pushing for the new regulations.
“You saw it before the town board did and you were persistent. You came and then you came, and then you came. And then we got it. And then you brought in Andrew Campanelli, who I would say was fabulous,” Ricci said.
The 50 pages of zoning amendments were fine-tuned through the Zoning Revision Committee before being brought before the Town Board for final approval. The so-called small-cell sites, which are used for the millimeter wave variety of 5G wireless service, offer very high bandwidth but minimal range. In more urban settings, small-cell sites are placed on street lights, buildings and utility poles.
The Woodstock zoning amendments will require setbacks of 300 feet from any residential structure unless the small cell is co-located on an existing facility. Small cells cannot be within 300 feet of the Byrdcliffe Historic District or the Hamlet Preservation District.
The new regulations will require providers to certify the combined level of radio-frequency exposure from all carriers on a tower or location will not exceed levels permissible by the FCC. This applies to all cellular services, not just 5G. It became an issue when the Planning Board approved equipment changes on the town-owned tower on California Quarry Road and the applicants could not provide information about transmission levels from other tenants.
Opponents to 5G technology have said the radio-frequency radiation from the new equipment causes ill health effects.
Federal law prohibits local governments from including health factors in the consideration of wireless facility applications, but visual impact and conformance to local zoning can be used in the decision-making process.
Councilmember Bennet Ratcliff, though, says the town should pay all Campanelli’s fees. “I feel that it is not wise for the town board to only pay a small portion of the freight of somebody who we are relying on to advise us,” Ratcliff said. “I would prefer that that the town pay for the full amount of the legal services that Mr. Campanelli has offered, but I was not a part of the board when that happened and when that decision was made. I certainly don’t believe that the Town Board should be sharing in this kind of legal cost with interested parties,” he said. “I believe that if the Town Board is as committed as we all have seen tonight, to being in the forefront, we should be paying for the full cost of the legal services of Mr. Campanelli.”
Ratcliff said he will approve the zoning changes, but is “completely dismayed that the town will not take its financial obligations seriously.”
Supervisor Bill McKenna said there is a history of cost-sharing arrangements.
“There has been precedent in in the past where the town and various entities got together and did share costs, more commonly defending lawsuits,” he said.
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