By Brian Zanzonico
The hearing on Omnipoint/T-Mobile's application for a special-use permit to construct the tower in the rear parking lot of the Franklin Bridge Centre on Dogwood Avenue ran so long on Sept. 28, 2006 that the Hempstead Town Zoning Board of Appeals adjourned. The board announced last week the meeting will reconvene on Dec. 6 at 9:30 a.m.
Last year's hearing lasted past 11 p.m., as Omnipoint/T-Mobile brought two attorneys and four experts to Town Hall, including its own court reporter. Project architect Charles Whalen said the 65-foot cell tower, which, disguised as a flag pole slimmer than a traditional design, would house six antennas. In addition to a spotlight to illuminate an American flag at night, there would be ground-level equipment at the pole's base, including a battery cabinet, concealed by a 7-foot-tall brick wall matching the facade of the shopping center.
Andrew Overton, Omnipoint/T-Mobile's real estate and zoning manager for Nassau and Suffolk counties, said that the communications company would be responsible for maintaining the flag. One of the residents' concerns was the noise from the pulley and the metal parts of the flagpole snapping in the wind. Whalen said that might occur in high winds, but noise impact of the ground equipment would be minimal, since it would be cooled by a fan unit, and the hum of the fan would be reflected off the brick wall toward the rear of the property.
Whalen also said that Omnipoint/T-Mobile considered alternate sites around West Hempstead and Franklin Square. The Little League field on Ocean Avenue in West Hempstead; Wesley United Methodist Church on Fenworth Boulevard in Franklin Square; Echo Park in West Hempstead; and Halls Pond Park on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Hempstead Avenue in West Hempstead were all considered. Whalen said that both Echo Park and Halls Pond Park were "doable architecturally," but Omnipoint/T-Mobile attorney Keith Brown said the Franklin Bridge Centre was selected because it was the "least intrusive site." Some residents asked if Rath Park on Fenworth Boulevard in Franklin Square was investigated, and Whalen answered that it wasn't one of the areas he looked at.
Led by Ron Lipsky, who organized the Franklin Square United Neighborhood Association, residents raised more than $10,000 to hire an attorney, Tom McKevitt, and an expert on cell phone technology, Richard Comey, to challenge Omnipoint/T-Mobile's assertion that the need for the tower is based on gaps in coverage. Comey testified that during a test, 100 calls were made throughout the area, and reception during all the calls made and received was "crystal clear." Some residents who had arrived before noon, waited until 10 p.m. to address the board. Some got the chance to speak, but the board opted to adjourn rather than hear the rest of the expert testimony.
Comey will be at the Dec. 6 hearing, Lipsky said.
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