Although residents in Springs, NY acknowledge the need for better digital connectivity, some have rallied to challenge a church location for a cell tower. Two suggestions have been proposed, either hiding a 50-foot cell tower within a campanile, or foregoing the facade and simply erecting a 70-foot monopole. As the East Hampton Star reports, neither solution pleases nearby neighbors, who contend that local officials overstepped themselves in approving any cell tower.
Three neighbors whose property adjoins the contested site, St. Peter’s Chapel, have engaged attorney Andrew Campanelli to argue on their behalf. “I don’t know who is advising the town on this stuff,” he said, “but they have no idea what they are doing. The original lawsuit was against the Planning Board. The denial was for a cell tower on a historic site in which the Planning Board had to consider the adverse impact on the historic site. So the Town Board is now making itself the Zoning Board of Appeals. You can’t do that. The Town Board has no power to interpret the code.”
The agreement Campanelli cited was related to an earlier lawsuit between the town and AT&T. As the source reports, the East Hampton Town Board followed the advice of their attorneys and agreed to put that lawsuit to rest. AT&T was asked to submit the proposal for the 70-foot monopole with the parties agreeing that if those plans fell through, automatic approval would be given to the original campanile plan.
Litigious neighbor, Peter Corbett, said that they had attempted to sway the church leadership to reject cell towers plans but did not gain their support. “They have said they want the money, that they need that revenue to maintain the church or maybe to keep it open year-round,” he told the Star, adding that, “They said the community wants better cell service.” Geographically, Springs is located at the remote northwestern tip of Long Island where connectivity options are limited.
Corbett agreed that digital connectivity would be a good thing for the community, but does not want to sacrifice the visual appeal of the church property in order to obtain it. “It’s unfortunate the town doesn’t have a really cohesive way of figuring this out,” he noted. “This whack-a-mole is just causing stress for everybody.” AT&T has not yet responded to this latest legal salvo.
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