Hope may not spring eternal in this case. The Springs, NY, Fire District is suing the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals over cell tower building permits.
Inside Towers has told you about this battle several times over the last few months and now, in its suit, the fire district wants the State Supreme Court to reverse the ZBA’s decision to build a cell tower on its property. However, the suit asks that an injunction be issued while the case is ongoing so the fire district can use the communications antennas on the tower. The tower was already erected last spring by Elite Towers at fire department headquarters on Fort Pond Boulevard. 27East.com reports that the community is “outraged by the appearance of the tower, claiming that the district had gotten approvals for the tower without necessary public notice or mandatory review.”
Building department officials, who issued the permit in 2014, says that the town attorney told them “fire districts constituted sovereign municipalities and were not subject to zoning controls of the town.”
The ZBA argues that the town reviewing authority “should have applied certain tests to the proposal before issuing the permits,” according to 27East.com. Even though the ZBA ordered the permits revoked and that the plan go before review, the lawsuit claims that the ZBA ignored state law. The ZBA did in fact revoke the building permits, but crews started work two weeks later and installed the fire department’s communications equipment on the tower, which could co-locate with at least four or five different companies. This service would pay the district $3,000 each per month to mount their antennas. Despite the lawsuit, emergency communications equipment will be activated within the week.
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