A proposed Verizon cell tower in Phoenicia drew packed houses to Shandaken town board and planning board meetings, where concerns were raised over the tower’s size, location, necessity, and impacts on property value and health.
The tower would fill a large gap in cell phone coverage that has plagued the area for decades, where in many areas, including the center of the hamlet of Phoenicia, cell service is nonexistent. The county 911 system would use the tower to mount radio equipment and improve coverage in the area.
The ZBA denied a variance to increase the proposed tower height from 180 feet to 199 feet to accommodate the additional gear for emergency responders, and the town board considered amending the communications law to allow the increased height.
“As you know, the zoning board of appeals denied the variances, and if the town board and the county and Verizon thought that it was very important for this cell tower to be put exactly in that location, they would have attended our public hearings,” ZBA Chair Henry Williams said at the Sept. 8 town board meeting.
“Nobody showed up to the public hearings, other than a few people. The Zoning Board ruled on what evidence they had and what was presented to them,” Williams said.
“Seems that the very next day after our ruling, members of the Zoning Board were sent letters, emails and phone calls to rescind their vote, which I thought was unlawful,” he said.
“Now they came back, and what you did was undermine our process. We have a legal process under the zoning code, town of Shandaken, and the state of New York, and by you immediately wanting to change the zoning law to benefit an entity like Verizon or even the county is unlawful.”
But Shandaken Supervisor Peter DiSclafani disagreed.
“We’re not overriding the Zoning Board. We’re amending a code,” he said.
The town board ultimately tabled the amendment.
Officials cite emergency struggles
Ernest Longhi Jr., an EMT for 13 years, said he doesn’t buy the argument the tower is needed for county 911 communications.
“I think that that is a bogus sell. We always got the job done. We won agency of the year for Ulster County because we missed one call an entire year,” he said.
“There’s been a fire tower on Mount Tremper for decades that could have been built on. That’s just absurd.”
Kimberly Umhay, who lives near the proposed tower site, urged the town board to come up with another site.
“We don’t need to place these things where we have to live under them, where they have to depreciate the value of our property, the place where we love, the place where my children want to live forever. It’s not fair,” Umhay said.
“So I’m begging you: Please reconsider where you’re going to put this thing.”
County Legislator Kathy Nolan suggested satellite technology would be more viable.
“There is the possibility here of leapfrogging the cellular and radio into satellite. If there is no alternative to what seems to be a bad location, then satellite might be worth trying to get,” she said.
But Everett Erichsen, director of emergency services for Ulster County, spoke of the gap in radio communications, which needs to be filled regardless of whether Verizon builds the tower.
“There’s a severe lack of interoperability between law enforcement, fire and EMS,” Erichsen said.
“There are numerous incidents where we have severe trouble communicating with them. There are numerous incidents where we have extreme trouble dispatching them. So it is a serious issue. If we cannot dispatch them, they are not going to be able to come. So we need to have redundant and successful ways to dispatch your first responder personnel in this area,” he said.
Newer cellphones can use satellite technology when cell service is not available, but it is limited to text messages and they must go through a clearinghouse to the 911 center.
Volunteer fire chiefs spoke to the need for better emergency communication.
“I have the worst communication in my district,” said Big Indian/Oliverea Fire Chief Derek Stapleton.
“A few years ago, we had New York City police officers that got killed on their wedding night, and the only way that we could communicate with county was luckily, we had a homeowner that was right there at the scene, and he brought his portable phone out, and then he was charging them,” he said.
“We were there for nine hours. This proposed tower and communications for EMS would give my district a fighting chance to save more lives and be able to talk to county and get the resources that I need.”
Olive Fire Chief Chris Winnie concurred.
“Communication is a very big struggle. We have no cell [service]. Our radios are very, very limited anymore, with the technology and the infrastructure of the county dwindling,” he said.
“I’m asking you to as quickly as possible come to a solution so that we can get communications resolved. I’ve lived through a firefighter being crushed at an incident and had communications problems. I’ve lived this nightmare.”
Verizon attorney Scott Olson said the tower can operate at less than 180 feet and still meet its needs, but the county equipment needs to be above 180 feet. That is why it proposed a 195-foot tower.
The planning board public hearing was kept open until Verizon makes another appearance.
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