Groups Call for Sensible
Northway Cell Service
that Protects the Natural Resources of the Adirondack Park
Encourage State to
Pay for Cost of Less Intrusive Shorter Towers
Released, Monday, February 26,
2007
ALBANY, N.Y.-Environmental groups
joined together today to call upon Governor Spitzer to protect
the authority of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) and find a
solution to the Northway cellular communications issue without
suspending the laws, rules and regulations that protect the Adirondack
Park. The groups also called for the state to help finance a
responsible plan.
(Click here to read
a letter to Governor Spitzer from the groups.)
"We all want the same thing - enhanced public safety along
our major road corridors including the Northway," said Adirondack
Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "However, we
are not willing to look the other way while environmental regulations
are disregarded for political expediency."
Senator Betty Little (R-Queensbury) recently called on Governor
Spitzer to issue an Executive Order suspending the APA's regulations
so that temporary towers could be installed immediately and permanent
tall towers could be constructed along the road corridor without
any consideration of tower height or the usual bidding process.
"The Senator was half right. She asked that the state pay
for the towers and be ready to build them itself, if no company
was willing to do so," said Citizens Campaign for the Environment
Government Relations Director William Cooke. "However, her
proposal to suspend the APA's regulations and build towers that
are too tall for the Adirondack Park is not acceptable."
A project for the roadway to repair the existing call boxes and
install a series of 38-foot tall towers which would have been
capable of carrying up to three private cell company's equipment
was approved by the APA in December 2002. Unfortunately, no company
was willing to rent space on them. The emergency call boxes were
repaired last fall and are now fully operational.
"It's appropriate for the State of New York to finance cell
phone service on the Northway since no private provider can afford
to do so and the Northway is a major commercial thoroughfare.
The state is looking to spend over $13 million every hour, every
day, in the next year and it seems to me that there are state
resources to finance this project," said Peter Bauer, Executive
Director of the Residents' Committee to Protect the Adirondacks.
"There is nothing technically wrong with the existing plan,"
stated Houseal of the Adirondack Council. "All it needs
is funding for construction of the towers and equipment sheds.
This can easily be provided by the state and federal government,
especially as they both consider budgets for the next fiscal
year."
"It is a shame that elected officials let three and a half
winters go by before they began a serious effort to find a solution
to the problem," said John Stouffer, Legislative Director
for the Sierra Club - Atlantic Chapter. "The previous administration
allowed the plan to provide cell service on the Northway to die
based on a lack of interest on the part of cell service providers.
Protecting public safety and the unique Adirondack vistas are
too important to leave to the whims of cell service providers."
Senator Little and two north country colleagues, Assembly members
Teresa Sayward (R-Willsboro) and Janet Duprey (R-Peru), have
called on the State to build a series of tall towers, up to 100
feet tall, to service the stretch of the Northway where cell
service is limited. A range of five to ten towers have been proposed
for the 66-mile length of highway.
Crown Communications, the state's consultants for the approved
(shorter tower) project estimated that it would require 16 towers
of 150 to 180 feet in height to provide the same seamless coverage
of the 38-foot tower plan. This alternative was ruled out because
it would have a significant visual impact on the Adirondack Park.
"The Adirondack Northway is a designated federal scenic
highway, appropriate for a Park as magnificent as the Adirondacks.
Conservation easements and other important Park policies protect
its scenery so vital to travelers' impressions of the area. The
2002 Call Box replacement program was designed with these facts
in mind and with co-location opportunities for cell phone service,"
said Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks Executive
Director David H. Gibson. "Many alternatives were studied
and all the consultants, from the NYS Police to the APA, agreed
that a wireless system requiring a number of small antennae poles
would provide the necessary cell phone services. The only impediment
seems to be the funding. We say to Senator Little and Governor
Spitzer, ' let's secure the funding and get on with the job.'
"
For more information:
John F. Sheehan, Adirondack Council, 518-432-1770 (w); 441-1340
(c); 456-4512 (h)
Peter Bauer, Residents' Committee, 518-251-4257
David Gibson, Association for the Protection, 518-377-1452
John Stouffer, Sierra Club, 518-426-9144
William Cooke, Citizens Campaign, 518-434-8171
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