Location being discussed
The Village Board has voted 4-1 to allow Homeland Towers to begin the exploratory process of putting a cell tower in Highland Falls.
The first step in the process will be the floating of a balloon at the proposed site — 26 Havens Rd., the village’s Highway Garage — to determine what a cell tower would look like at that location.
That is expected to take place on February 16 (with inclement weather dates on Feb. 17 or 18).
Vincent Xavier, regional manager from Homeland Towers, was at Monday’s meeting. He said that he has met twice now with a committee appointed by Mayor Joe D’Onofrio, at which location and the needs of the community with regard to cell service were discussed. Trustees Brian Aylward and Charlie Murphy are on that committee as are Martha Aylward and Ned Kopald. Village Attorney Alyse Terhune also sat in on the meetings.
“But no decisions have been made,” D’Onofrio said at the meeting, after several residents stood during public comment to question whether the board had already entered a contract with Homeland Towers. Xavier confirmed that they are in the “very preliminary” stages of talks, with “no decisions made, nothing signed and no expense to the village”.
He said the next step is to “gather information”, like they will do with the balloon. They’ll float it at both 160 and 180 feet, he said, so that residents can see what it would look like at that location, which is, he added, “a weird spot because of how low it is”. Also still to be done are an environmental assessment, FAA analysis and FCC compliance report.
“But we need all these things to have an informed decision,” Xavier said. “You need all the information before you decide.”
He said the type of tower he’s looking at for that location is a “monopine”, a single pole tower that is made to look like a pine tree.
The tower would give good coverage to Highland Falls, he said, but
wouldn’t really help Fort Montgomery. He said he expects to be back before the Town Board at some point to again talk about a tower for Fort Montgomery.
In Highland Falls, his company has looked at other locations owned by the village, including on the five acres of land behind the Little League field at Roe Park. That land, however, is tied up by a restrictive deed, D’Onofrio said, which would have to be changed by the state legislature for a cell tower to be placed there.
It was Trustee Merv Livsey who voted no on allowing the balloon test. He indicated it didn’t make sense to him to put up a tower when it wouldn’t help the whole town.
Deputy Mayor Jim Ramus voted yes for the balloon test, but said he’s not really a fan of the highway garage location either. The residents at the meeting said their concern is more about health issues than anything. They spoke with Xavier in the hall outside the Village Hall meeting room for quite a while after his presentation.
