All--Why the "swiss cheese" will never disappear from the cellular network. This is 11 miles from Manhattan. [I'm still not saying that this is a key market for G*, but it does represent an opportunity for some incremental MOU's].
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DOT drops bid for cell tower in
Ridgewood
Thursday, November 11, 1999
By EVONNE COUTROS
Staff Writer
RIDGEWOOD -- Faced with local opposition, the state Department of
Transportation has abandoned a proposal to construct a 120-foot cellular
tower along Franklin Turnpike and Route 17 south.
"The department will honor the community's request and the facility will not
be built," said DOT spokesman John Dourgarian on Wednesday.
The mayor and council voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose the plan for a
wireless communications structure on state-owned land. The tower, strongly
opposed by neighbors, would have been leased to carriers.
"It was an empowering experience for the residents," said Councilwoman
Jane Reilly, who has opposed the plan since its proposal in March. "They
came forward as a united neighborhood and were successful in opposing the
tower."
Robert Lanni of Westfield Avenue lives 1,400 feet from the site. The
computer programmer is one of about 50 concerned residents who attended
Tuesday's council meeting.
"What it means for us is that it protects the land and the property values,"
Lanni said. "As a group of residents, we got together and realized how it
affected our families and ourselves and we would not stand for it and let
things slip by without having our voice."
The Transportation Department had sought the village's consent to construct
the lattice-type tower in a DOT maintenance yard. The 10.29-acre parcel
also houses a park-and-ride lot, shuttle bus service to Newark Airport, and
a dome for road salt storage.
The department held a hearing on the proposal Sept. 13, after which
residents pressured village officials to oppose the tower.
The council's resolution states that the village commissioned an appraiser
"and his conclusions support the assertions of the property owners, that to
permit the tower would substantially devalue properties in the immediate
area."
It also said that at the September hearing the village heard nothing about the
"possibility of electromagnetic interference, which could affect the
health-care facilities which are located on property adjacent to and near to
the state property."
There also was little testimony regarding the danger of ice falling from the
tower, the resolution states.
Village officials said wireless service is available in the area "perhaps with
some gaps, perhaps with some static, but that the service currently existing is
substantially better than mediocre."
Reilly agreed with residents' demands.
"I couldn't see a benefit so great that would outweigh the egregious
imposition on the neighborhood," she said.
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Best,
JS |
