WP trustees increase cell tower oversight

Richard Tedesco

The Williston Park Village Board approved a local law Monday that will require cell tower owners to gain board approval for major modifications to existing cell towers and the village Building Department to okay minor modifications.

“Any major modification will be treated as an application for a new facility,” said village attorney James Bradley during a public hearing on the law. “We’re attempting to adopt a statute that makes sense for the village.”

Only new cell tower installations had required approval by the village board, Bradley said. 

Major modifications are considered to be a “substantial increase” in the height of the cell tower, Bradley said. The new law defines a substantial increase as a mounting of the existing antenna or antennas higher than 22 feet, six inches above the principal roof line of the structure where the cell towers are located.

Building department approval of any modification in a cell tower facility includes the following requirements:

• Applicant’s submission of a Federal Communications Commission license

• Antennas composed of, or covered with, “stealth” material to conceal it from view

• Competent engineering evidence that sound emitted by the revamped cell tower will not exceed village code

• Submission of engineer’s statement that reception or transmission from a cell tower will not interfere with television or radio signals of neighboring properties

The law states that any approvals of new cell tower facilities will be effective for five years, with approval to be renewed by the village Building Department when the five-year period expires.

“I’m particularly happy this will be on the books for now and the future,” said village Trustee Teresa Thomann. “We see the need for this technology, but we’ve had issues with it for the past 20 years.”

Village Trustee Kevin Rynne said the law will “help the aesthetics of the building and the aesthetics of the area.”

In response to a question from a resident, Bradley said he did not notify any cellular communications companies currently operating in the village about the hearing on the new law.

“In my opinion, it complies with the Congressional statute passed in 2012 dealing with changes in cell towers,” Bradley said.

In other developments:

• Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said the village board had awarded a $2.5 million contract for road repairs in the village. He said he expected the roadwork to start in the first week in September and to be completed by Dec. 1.

The board voted to award the contract to Port Washington-based Reet Constructing Co. at a special meeting on Aug. 12 to repair approximately two miles of village roads.

• Ehrbar said the village is establishing a new e-mail system to expedite sending notifications to village residents, particularly in emergency situations. Residents who wish to participate in the system must send an e-mail to notifications@villageofwillistonpark.org

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