By JOSEPH KELLARD
Nextel would like to place the antennas atop a building at Long Beach Road and Windsor Parkway.
Up first to testify on behalf of Nextel was Michael Lynch, an appraiser, who said all the equipment will be color-coordinated to the proposed building, and that it would have no adverse effect on the residential and commercial property values.
Lynch provided an oral study and photo of a site similar to the one in Oceanside, a three-story building in East Hills with Verizon cell phone antennas on its roof and surrounded by homes, as one example of how property values are not adversely affected by such sites.
During their testimony late in the hearing, residents who live near the site in Oceanside all expressed concern that the antennas will significantly depreciate the value of their homes, from both aesthetic and health-related standpoints.
An Oceanside resident and real estate agent for 14 years, Julie Taub testified that the appearance of antennas near residences would "deter a lot of buyers...and effect re-sale values of homes" based on fears people have of their alleged health risks and because they consider the antennas an "eyesore."
Jess Hindin, who lives across the street from the site on West Windsor, suggested a list of sites where Nextel could install their antennas and equipment instead, which included Blockbuster Video and Genovese Drug Store.
Alfred Amato, an attorney for Nextel, said that the company's representatives had met in March with Vicky Rosenberg, a civic activist working with the opposition, to discuss alternative sites in Oceanside that she had surveyed, which included Nemo's, Walgreen, Nathan's, the Triangle and industrial areas.
Nextel concluded that each site was either inadequate in height or fell outside the area that would cover the service gap that is the reason for the company's proposal.
Stephan Jean, a radio frequency engineer for Nextel, testified that the company discovered the gap in September 2000, and because of it there is "a great possibility that [Nextel customers] will lose their calls," or be unable to make calls.
Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside), acting as spokesperson for the opposition, and zoning board members asked Jean if Nextel looked into adding power to existing sites (the nearest being 1.2 miles away in Baldwin) or adding more, taller or higher-mounted antennas.
Jean said that no technology exists yet to achieve greater power for the antennas' radio waves to travel further, nor would adding more antennas help.
Jean added that the proximity of cell phone antenna sites is determined, in part, by an area's terrain. In Montauk, sites can be spread apart by six miles, while in Nassau County, where buildings and homes are more condensed, the average space between sites is about 1.5 miles, he explained.
"If [Nextel] really had a coverage problem then they would have customer complaints,...and they had none, and [Mr. Jean] was quite candid in that," Toback said in his closing statement.
"I'm not 100 percent convinced that there is a real need for [this site]," Richard Bianculli, a board member, told Jean.
Testifying for Nextel on the EMF (electromagnetic field) emissions from cell phone antennas was Paul Testeversa, an electrical engineer, who said the proposed antennas are 2.5 percent below the Federal Communication Commission's safety guidelines for such emissions.
Toback asked him if he believed the FCC's guidelines were safe in regard to their alleged health risks, to which Testeversa answered that he believed they were. Testeversa said that he knew of no study in which EMF's were proven to cause illnesses, when asked about this issue by board members.
Jorge Winter, owner of Ocean Pharmacy, located on the ground floor of the building, told the board that he believes serious illnesses can probably be caused by EMF's emitted by the antennas, and asked them to deny Nextel's application.
In his summation, Amato concluded that the opposition presented no qualified experts to contradict the testimony of Nextel's experts. Toback concluded by saying that "a key element" in the case was the testimony of Scott Chasse, a private engineer working for Nextel, who had not visited the building in over a year after checking its structural soundness to hold an 31,000 pound equipment shelter and two steel beams amounting to 1,200 pounds.
Joseph Pellegrini, secretary to the zoning board of appeals, said the board will convene to discuss and possibly make a decision on the case on July 11.
