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Jun 27, 2023

Cell tower construction to begin end of year

By ohtadmin | on August 24, 2023 Barring a legal challenge, construction of a 16-story tower to accommodate cellular antennas will break ground at 90 Carr Lane later this year. “We don’t have an exact

By ohtadmin | on August 24, 2023

Barring a legal challenge, construction of a 16-story tower to accommodate cellular antennas will break ground at 90 Carr Lane later this year.

“We don’t have an exact date, but we figure we’ll get started in November of December,” said the applicant, Louis Vitali, owner of Mariner Tower. “It takes about three months.”

The zoning board of review, following approval at its August meeting, read the official decision

Tuesday night. The goal of the tower is improve mobile service north or Route 138.

Town Administrator Ed Mello said the next step is for the zoning clerk to type the decision and present it to the board’s chairman, Richard Boren, for his signature. Once signed, it will be recorded and any appeal must be filed within 20 days.

The zoning board’s decision, written and read by Boren, cited court cases to defend its approval. Those cases helped set precedents in the U.S. Telecommunications

Act of 1996. The first case Boren cited was the town of Amherst (N.H.) v. Omnipoint Communications.

“The Telecommunications Act is a deliberate compromise between the aim of facilitating the growth of wireless service and maintaining substantial local control over citing towers,” a federal judge wrote in his decision.

That decision, moreover, said a town “cannot preclude wireless service.”

Boren then cited a second case, CellCo Partnership v. the town of Clifton Park (N.Y.), which reinforced the Amherst decision. That decision ruled in favor of the cellular company because it met a “public necessity” standard.

“A zoning board of review must evaluate the cellular company’s application on the basis of whether the public utility has shown a need for its facility, and whether the needs of the broader public would be served by approving the application,” the federal judge wrote in that decision.

To meet the public necessity standard, the company successfully proved there were gaps in wireless service. The location of the tower, moreover, would “remedy the gaps” with “minimal intrusion to the community.”

The case also outlined which complaints do not “constitute substantial evidence,” including objections on aesthetic grounds and public health concerns. A “few generalized concerns of a substantial decrease in property value” due to the proximity to a tower and “mere speculation that alternative sites were more appropriate, or that a wireless provider could have tried harder to find other less intrusive locations,” also do not constitute substantial evidence, the judge wrote.

The Clifton Park decision said cellular companies “do not need to consider every other potential alternative site” for a tower; they only have to demonstrate “a good-faith effort.” In Jamestown, eight other sites were studied, and rejected, before the Carr Lane site was proposed.

The findings in Boren’s decision included an evaluation by FairMarket Advisors LLC that said there would be “no measurable impact” on housing prices due to the proximity to the Carr Lane tower.

A radio-frequency report C Squared Systems LLC said “there are areas of Jamestown that have deficient coverage without the installation of the proposed site.” Finally, an aeronautical study by Obstruction Evaluation Group said the proposed structure does not exceed obstruction standards and would not be a hazard to air navigation.

Relief approved in the decision includes a special-use permit for transmission lines, towers and substations. A second special-use permit, because the height of a structure will exceed 50 feet, also was granted.

The application by Navigator Properties LLC, doing business as Mariner Tower, calls for a galvanized-steel pole 160 feet above ground level to accommodate the antennas and cabling of four wireless carriers.

The setbacks are 160 feet from North Main Road, 175 feet to the north and south, and 1,100 feet to the east. The closest structure would be 360 feet from the compound. Because the monopole is not a hazard to airplanes, lighting on the pole will not be required. The monopole would be centered inside a proposed 75-by-75-foot compound.

In their recommendation, the planners require on-site generators to “utilize a sound-reducing enclosure.” They must be powered by propane, moreover, and no petroleum fuels can be used or stored on the site. The applicant also must agree to a removal bond so there is sufficient money to properly remove the facility if it is abandoned.

The 11-acre property at 90 Carr Lane has two existing homes, one built in 1690 and one in 1940. According to the planning commission’s findings, the older structure, which is the former residence of Colonial Gov. Caleb Carr, is presumed to be the oldest house in Jamestown. The historic structure will not be affected by this application.

Before the zoning board heard the case, the planning commission recommended approval. The planners said “the health, safety and welfare benefits of providing the north end of Jamestown with a cellular communication tower outweigh any conflicting considerations in the comprehensive plan.”