Cell tower on hold

Many Atlantic Beach residents, who are up in arms over the potential erection of a 53-foot cell tower in the middle of the small beach community, will have to wait even longer to have their say and get answers they demand following the postponement of a public hearing that had been set for this Thursday. The Village of Atlantic Beach Board of Zoning Appeals was set to review T-Mobile Northeast LLC’s cell tower application, but will adjourn the case at the request of the wireless service provider.

“The public hearing that is required and was scheduled for the November meeting is not going to happen,” said Atlantic Beach Village Attorney Charles S. Kovit. “The public hearing pertaining to the T-Mobile cell tower application will be adjourned at the request of T-Mobile. ... They probably weren’t ready to present their case, which requires a lot of technical information.”

Kovit added, “So if anyone is expecting to go down on the 19th to hear people talk about cell towers, they won’t see it. I’d tell anyone that called me that if they want they can come down and they can see the Board of Zoning Appeals adjourn the case.” He said that it is likely that the BZA will have the public hearing at the village’s January meeting.

The Greater Atlantic Beach Water Reclamation District entered into a contract leasing a parcel of land to T-Mobile last November. Now, pending approval from the Village of Atlantic Beach BZA, T-Mobile would be able to erect a 53-foot-tall cell tower on a property owned by the water district, located on the north side of Beech Street, between Vernon Avenue and Yates Avenue, and across from Wayne Avenue. The property is designated on the county tax map as Section 58, Block 61, Lot 114. The cell tower would consist of steeples, poles, telecommunication and public utility structures. The permit application also includes accessory uses and fences.

The approval of the village’s zoning board would be the final step necessary for T-Mobile to start the cell tower project. “Nothing can go through until the board decides the case,” Kovit said. “And then there might be subsequent litigation, but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves at this point.”

According to Kovit, the sewer district made a decision that has nothing to do directly with the village or the Town of Hempstead. He described the Greater Atlantic Beach Water Reclamation District as a “separate entity,” and added that the village’s Board of Trustees does not “take a position as a formal body” on the proposed cell tower.

Members of the Board of Commissioners of the Greater Atlantic Beach Water Reclamation District did not return phone calls.

Many residents said that members of the Board of Trustees do not support the proposed cell tower. Those same residents have been asking questions pertaining to the proposed wireless communication facility for the past few weeks and said they haven’t gotten any straight answers.

This outcry comes despite an Oct. 21 informational meeting, arranged by the village, with representatives from T-Mobile in attendance and the village’s initial adjournment of the case from October to November. According to Kovit, the new hearing date should be determined by the board at its Nov. 19 meeting.

More than 100 residents attended a Nov. 10 meeting of the Greater Atlantic Beach Water Reclamation District and signed a petition against the proposed cell tower. “They’re not forthcoming about where the pole is going and gave us no direct answers at the meeting,” said Doreen Isola, who lives within 200 feet of the site. “The water department’s attorney gave us no answers and also said that if they just pulled out that they would be sued. They didn’t respond at all. There was zero response. It was as if I didn’t say a word. The zoning law is the only thing that can stop it.”

Atlantic Beach homeowner Alan Rosenbloom, who attended both the October informational meeting and last week’s water district meeting, said he senses some nervousness on the part of the commissioners of the water district due to the reaction of village residents. “People are up in arms to say the least,” Rosenbloom said. “They were quite vocal at the meetings. I think we’re on quite solid ground saying that this cell tower should not go forward. The Zoning Board of Appeals, which has now put off the decision, has ample grounds in order to turn down the application for a variance.”

According to the village attorney, the number one priority of the mayor and the Board of Trustees, as well as the zoning board, is to protect residential property values, area character and aesthetics. “When somebody like T-Mobile comes in and is looking to put up a big, unsightly cell tower we believe it is the village’s role to challenge everything that T-Mobile says and take nothing for granted,” Kovit said. “We are very interested in knowing if they need a cell tower at all. We have to question if it is difficult to get cell phone service in Atlantic Beach and Atlantic Beach Estates. And even if there is a problem with service, are there other places that the cell tower could go where it would have lesser effect on property values, area character and aesthetics?”

Kovit said that the village hired Richard A. Comi, of the Center for Municipal Solutions, the leading municipal cell tower consultant in New York, to be sure that all the facts are straight before the zoning board makes its final decision. “We consider Mr. Comi essential to fully protect the interest of the residents of Atlantic Beach and Atlantic Beach Estates,” Kovit said. “If it wasn’t for him, we’d just have to accept all of their stuff at face value and obviously they have a vested interest in this and want the variance to be granted.”

Isola said her biggest concerns are the possibility of fire and potential health issues. “Our elected board needs to consider the consequences that such a large steel structure will act as a lightning rod and ignite the dense forest of bamboo and brush growing wildly in the field of the intended tower,” Isola said. “The effects of long-term exposure to these wireless transmissions from cell towers and antennas is wildly debated and is probably why T-Mobile chose to lease instead of buy to limit their liability.”

She added, “Who wants be forced to endure this aesthetically displeasing eyesore along with suspicious, possible cancer causing microwaves? I wouldn’t.”

Comments on this story? PShapiro@liherald.com or call (516) 569-4000 ext. 201.