by Laura Lane
Cingular is seeking permission to erect the antennas at 1812-1214 Merrick Road, and will appear at a hearing before the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals Sept. 13.
Some residents have been concerned about Cingular's location choice, which is near residential neighborhoods.
Denenberg said in a telephone interview that he believes the meeting went well. "The purpose of the meeting was to make people familiar with the process when going before the Board of Zoning Appeals," he said. "Also to know what arguments in opposition they can make before the board."
Joe Baker, president of the newly formed South Merrick Community Civic Association, co-hosted the meeting. He wondered whether Cingular needed to install the cell antennas in south Merrick. Baker believes cellular service is adequate now. "Are we installing it for future customers, or it there a need for it now?" he asked. "We'll contact Cingular customers. We'll go door to door if need be."
Denenberg encouraged residents to find out whether the cell tower is necessary. He said he believed residents could more effectively argue against the proposed cell antennas before the BZA if they could prove that service is already adequate. "If you can show the need is not there, that's a good argument against" the antennas, Denenberg said.
Baker asked Re if the antennas would make noise. He said he had heard they might make a humming sound, which would be unpleasant for nearby residents. Re wasn't certain.
Some who attended the meeting said they were concerned about the antennas because of the potential effect on residents' health, an issue that Denenberg said won't be considered due to the 1996 federal Telecommunications Act. The law prohibits local zoning boards from considering perceived or possible health effects when ruling on cell-tower sites.
Residents were also concerned about the potential effect the antennas might have on property values. "The building isn't a high building, it's only three stories high," said Baker in a telephone interview after the meeting. "If they put it on a higher building, it wouldn't have as much of an effect aesthetically."
Re said that Cingular had wanted to "co-locate" antennas on the cell tower that was proposed by Verizon in 2004, to be erected at the Town of Hempstead's garbage transfer station at the Levy Preserve. A community effort defeated the cell tower. Residents said they were concerned that it would have been too close to nearby elementary schools and ball fields.
"We wouldn't have needed quite as many [antenna] sites as we needed," said Re, "if that tower had been built."
He said the range of antennas attached to a 100-foot tower could be a mile or more, whereas the range of antennas on top of a lower building is often less than a half-mile.
"We always try to co-locate," said Re. But he added that there isn't a cell tower in south Merrick where the company could do so.
Baker asked Re whether the cell antennas could be placed at the garbage transfer station. He asked whether that would be as effective, and was told it wouldn't be.
Stuart Horowitz, who lives on Alice Street, attended the meeting. In a telephone interview, he said he believed the meeting was helpful. "It was good for educating what is realistic," said Horowitz. "It doesn't have to happen if the community gets together, and we know what the Board of Zoning Appeals is looking for from the community to reject the plan."
Horowitz doesn't believe the cell antennas are necessary. "Everyone I talk to has cell phone service," he said.
Baker asked Re how long Cingular planned to keep the cell antennas on the Merrick Road building if approved by the BZA. Re said they were tying to obtain "a five-year lease with a five-year option to renew; a total of 30 years."
The South Merrick Community Civic Association plans to hold a meeting Aug. 24. Baker said the civic group may meet sooner to address the cell tower issue further.
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