Cell Tower: The Talk Of Hoosick Planning Board Meeting

by Gary Danforth
The Town of Hoosick Planning Board meeting took place this past Monday evening, June 15, in the Hoosick Falls Armory with Chairman Jim Dunigan calling the meeting to order at 7:30 pm. Dunigan welcomed the newest member of the Planning Board, Stephen Griffin to his first meeting. Besides Dunigan and Griffin, other members of the seven member Board are John Cooney, Don Wyman, Carol Folgert, Jim Kenney and a local surveyor. Following the Pledge of Allegiance the minutes of the previous month’s meeting were approved. There were five Board members present with Folgert and Kenney absent. Board Attorney Stanton King was in attendance as was recording secretary Karen Jennings.
In the first action before the Board, the McClellan parcel was approved by the Board to subdivide five acres of land from a thirty acre parcel on Ball Street Extension.
In the only other action before the Board on this rainy, chilly, damp evening, Stephen Woodworth, representing AT&T, appeared before the Board again, wanting to put up a prefabricated 12 foot by 20 foot concrete structure below an existing cell tower structure on LeBarron Road. In previous meetings with the Board it was explained that his company would need to install six antennas on the preexisting 300 foot tower, presently used by four carriers. Also, King had told the Board that this was what the existing Town law was for, to allow additional carriers to use the preexisting structure to add services without having to build another tower. King said an application for this action had been received as had a letter from the existing cell tower owner saying this was permissible. A site plan was also submitted. A long form environmental assessment form (EAF) was also submitted. A copy of the applicant’s Federal Communication License was also in the packet as was a report by a qualified radio frequency engineer certifying the radio frequencies would be in compliance with federal laws.
The existing tower was built in 1991 and the Town law on cell towers was enacted in 2000. A more recent subdivision of lands surrounding the tower by a local citizen was brought before the Board in 2008. A diesel generator will power the cell tower twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, if and when, electricity is lost to the area. The generator would have its own 70 gallon fuel storage tank and would be able to run for three continuous days without refueling. There would be a catch pan to prevent diesel spills. The company would have to put up $2,500 for an engineer to review the plan on the Town’s behalf before the review process could begin. Russ Reeves, acting on the Town’s behalf as a licensed professional engineer, was at this meeting.
This cell tower site was inspected in 2007 and maintenance was requested. There was also discussion of the cell tower collapse zone, with this area usually being the height of the tower plus half the height again of the tower, in this case 450 feet. There are no County roads or domiciles within this area, but a local road is within this area. The Board also had questions on the radio frequencies of the tower, whether the maintenance requested from the 2007 inspection had been completed and whether the foundation supporting the tower was safe for additional weight with this addition to the present tower. Also, the Board wanted a bond on the tower to protect the Town in case the tower had to be taken down and a certificate of insurance for protection for the Town for liability.
After forty minutes of discussion the Board and applicant started to go over the environmental assessment form (EAF). Amidst this process, Town Building Inspector Ed King diligently checked back records and uncovered, to both the Board’s and applicant’s gratitude, that in 2001, the tower had been the subject of a review, signed off by Reeves, for a previous expansion of the tower’s use. This would mean that neither the bond nor the insurance would need to be undertaken. It also meant the tower was registered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The EAF was completed.
With this information, the Board asked Reeves to furnish the Board with a letter that the foundation, at present, was stable and that the requested maintenance had been completed. The Board set a public hearing for this matter at 7 pm on July 20, one half hour before the regular Planning Board meeting begins. The Board should have all assurances from the applicant and Reeves at this time and all parties will be available to answer the public’s questions.
Lastly, the Board involved itself in a brief discussion about two Planning Board members having met with the newly formed Zoning Board of Appeals and some possible changes in processes before the Planning Board. Also discussed briefly were the differences in flood plain designations for personal and commercial usage. The Board asked an applicant to come back next month so progress on his application can go forward.
The mostly one topic meeting adjourned at 8:55 pm.