The tower behind a firehouse in the swanky neighborhood of famous writers on Long Island, NY, just went up last spring. Not all the equipment has been installed, but now it may have to come down. The Springs Fire District’s cell phone tower permit was revoked last week by the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals by a vote of 4 to 1.The zoning board said Elite Towers, the company that leased the land for the 150-foot tower, misled the SFD commissioners in suggesting the district was exempt from local zoning review, said the East Hampton Star.
The members who voted to revoke the permit, made it clear that they were not opposed to the pole per se, but wanted it reviewed through the proper channels. The tower was put up in April, but the communications equipment intended to go on it has not been installed. Objections to the tower were widespread when it went up, leading to an appeal of a building permit issued by the Building Department.
Inside Towers told you about the October 6 appeal hearing when Pat Glennon, chairman of the board of fire commissioners, told the East Hampton Star that in addition to the tower’s use for cell phone communications, it was essential that new equipment be installed for the fire department, because there are numerous dead spots where volunteers’ pagers don’t work. He also said the commissioners had inquired with the town Planning Department, as well as its legal team and had been given a verbal okay to put up the tower based on a 2004 determination involving the Amagansett Fire Department. The zoning board found that state case law cites fire districts and fire companies as, generally speaking, being under the purview of local zoning laws. “I think they were led awry,” a zoning board member said of the fire commissioners.
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