A neighbor went to another’s house with a bottle of wine to celebrate the news.
At a hearing on Oct. 2, the Town of Hempstead Board of Appeals, in a unanimous decision, denied T-Mobile’s application to build a 65-foot-high cell tower at the Franklin Bridge Centre shopping plaza on Dogwood Avenue in Franklin Square. T-Mobile has 30 days to appeal.
The decision came after a two-and-a-half-year battle between the Franklin Square United Neighborhood Association (FSUNA), spearheaded by Franklin Square resident Ron Lipsky, and T-Mobile.
“The burden of proof was on the cell phone company,” said Tom McKevitt, an attorney who represented FSUNA. “They had to prove that there was a need for a cell phone tower and that it was in the least intrusive area. We were able to prove that the cell tower was not needed by placing 150 calls that went through. We did the calls from throughout the area — stores, homes and cars. We did a number of phone calls, and every call went through except one where it said the circuits were busy. There was not a single dropped call.
“It was also proven that a 65-foot cell tower does not belong in a neighborhood where the tallest building is two stories,” McKevitt added.
Hundreds of neighbors pulled together to oppose the tower. They held fundraisers including a food fest, raffles, auctions, a pizza party and a fashion show. Their slogan became “Refuse to Lose,” and they put signs up in the neighborhood that said, “Refuse to Lose, Grow Flowers Not Cell Towers Near Our Home and Schools.”
“That campaign really united the community,” Lipsky said, recalling a rally in September 2006 that attracted 800 people.
T-Mobile erected a crane to approximate the height and location of the cell tower. Lipsky and FSUNA took dozens of photos from bedrooms, dining rooms, backyards and roads to prove that the structure would be intrusive to the neighborhood. “They took pictures from the front of my house and my daughter’s bedroom,” said Franklin Square resident Bruno Caracciolo, who testified at an earlier hearing with some of the photos in hand.
“We are on the west side of Ribbon Street facing east,” Caracciolo continued. “They took pictures looking straight from my house where the tower was going to be. It was going to be an eyesore. It didn’t need to be there. I didn’t want an antenna right in front of my house, 20 to 30 feet higher than everything else in the neighborhood.”
“There was a clear shot of the crane right from my driveway,” said Mike Jacobs, a West Hempstead resident who also had testified before the town. Jacobs lives across the street from where the tower would have been erected. “It had no place in a residential neighborhood,” he said. “It would stick out like a sore thumb.”
Dave Bishop, another Franklin Square resident who testified, said the tower would have brought down property values. “There are a lot of other neighborhoods nearby where it would fit better,” Bishop said. “They never considered anybody in the neighborhood.”
“It’s amazing that we beat them,” said Maureen Binetti, another resident spoke out against the cell tower. “We owe it all to [Ron Lipsky] and his guidance. We hope the next time they look for a site, their engineers and attorneys start to think of the neighborhood and not just their budget.”
Lipsky said he is proud of the result. “Many people doubted that we could win against a powerhouse like T-Mobile,” he said. “This truly was a David vs. Goliath battle, and the little guys won.”
