NY Town Sues Fire District Over Cell Tower
A fire district in New York is being sued by a town and a group of residents over the construction of a 150 foot cellphone tower on property at a fire station.
The town of Warwick and several residents have filed suit to block construction of a proposed tower by the Pine Island Fire District. The new AT&T tower would replace an existing 70 foot tall tower presently as the station.
The town claims the new tower has to be approved by the planning board, but the fire district claims its is immune from zoning regulations and free from town oversight.
AT&T agreed to pay the fire district rent of $2000 per month to erect the town on their property. Neighbors claim the higher tower would impact the value of their homes and cause some to have to move.
I can see lessening property values, but how would a tower “cause some [residents] to have to move”?
Neither assertion is true. Actually the increased coverage provided by the tower will INCREASE values not the other way around.
I respectfully request some more opinions on this topic from readers. I am a Pine Island resident with close relationships to the members of the Pine Island Fire District.
As a former resident of a very large city, I was shocked and disappointed by the vitriol the firefighters received from some members of the pubic regarding their idea to place a cellular tower on fire department property. I am amazed at the degree of unhappiness centered in one small hamlet of an upstate New York town.
Nearby residents, not all of whose property abuts the fire district property, called the firemen “boys with toys,” as well as “turds.” To their faces in public meetings, someone once remarked that “the only reason you join the fire department is so you can drink beer.”
The above are a few of the more printable comments.
I would like to find out how such a hostile public could be handled. We live in a northerly climate. Firefighters have been known to go out in the middle of the night in the middle of winter to pull someone’s teenaged driver out of ditch. They think nothing of rising in the wee hours to answer a call.
Would someone be able to write a few suggestions. These men have been insulted in print. A recent Letter to the Editor sent to the local newspaper called the fire district commissioners “harlots” to the cellular tower company with whom they were considering a lease. The transmission in our rather out-of-the-way rural area is terrible. There is development going on, and everyone wants every single new device before Apple can produce them, but no one wants a cellular tower. There is no room to put the data that flows from all the electronic devices that people want.
There are emergency calls to elderly residents in need of EMS services, and there are dead zones in our area.
Has anyone reading these blogs ever had experience with such a hostile public? There is more to this story. Many in the department are extremely intelligent people, who did not take this choice lightly. They considered this issue from every angle, and in the end were let down even by our town supervisor.
Are there any suggestions for renewed public relations? These men did not deserve what they got. Any and all suggestions would be very much appreciated.