ADIRONDACK COUNCIL
FILES LAWSUIT TO OVERTURN PARK AGENCY
APPROVAL OF FRANKENPINE CELL TOWER NEAR LAKE GEORGE
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
518-456-4512 (home)
Released, Friday, September 9, 2005
FORT ANN, N.Y. - The Adirondack
Council and local residents today filed a lawsuit against the
NYS Adirondack Park Agency to overturn the APA's approval of
a 104-foot-tall fake-tree cell tower on a slope above Lake George's
eastern shore.
The Adirondack Council - an 18,000-member, not-for-profit organization
whose mission is to ensure the six-million-acre Adirondack Park's
wild character and ecological integrity - said it was filing
a special lawsuit (Article 78) today in the NYS Supreme Court
in Washington County.
The Council was joined in filing the lawsuit by individual residents
of the hamlet of Pilot Knob (Town of Fort Ann), where the tower
would be built, as well as members of the local community organization
PROTECT.
"We believe we can prove that the Park Agency applied a
flawed policy regarding communications towers in the Adirondack
Park, while ignoring other sections of state law it should have
applied when making its decision," said Adirondack Council
Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "We are asking the
court to annul the Agency's decision to issue a permit."
After a lengthy public hearing, the APA staff who acted as the
commissioners' eyes and ears at the hearing submitted a strongly
worded report urging the commissioners to deny the permit. However,
the formal staff recommendation (prepared by the chief counsel
and director for economic development, who did not attend the
hearing) omitted any mention of the hearing staff's report. On
July 9, the Adirondack Park Agency approved the Nextel "Frankenpine"
unanimously.
"The 'formal recommendation'
did not express an opinion on whether the permit should be approved
or denied, but its tone and instructions were favorable to permit
issuance, without any substantive justification," he added.
In addition, the Agency's General Counsel refused to allow the
commissioners to see a formal resolution from the APA's own Local
Government Review Board, which also urged the commissioners to
deny the permit, he explained.
"Instead, the executive staff's advice directed the commissioners
to focus on the agency's new tower construction policy,"
Houseal said. "Issues such as alternative sites and the
potential for stormwater pollution to reach protected wetlands
(and Lake George), were not adequately considered. The entire
decision to approve the permit revolved around the Frankenpine's
supposed invisibility.
"We don't want to file this lawsuit," Houseal said.
"But the Park Agency's decision was not based on the APA's
legal obligations to protect the Park's natural beauty and its
water quality. What's worse, a decision like this will come back
to haunt us in future projects.
"The Adirondack Park is one of the state's most successful
tourist attractions," Houseal said. "How many of our
10 million annual visitors, who flock here to soak in the breathtaking
scenery, will want to look at fake, plastic trees on every mountainside?
Once they are built, they will be with us for generations."
"Just like the Town of Fort Ann and the other 91 towns of
the Adirondack Park, the Adirondack Council wants improved telecommunications
along our highways and in our communities - especially for emergency
first responders," Houseal said. "But we want to see
it done right. Leaning exclusively on the current policy will
only produce more uncertainties and delays, not good results.
We want to see an effective towers regulation at the APA and
strong ordinances that enable local communities to be able to
guide where cell towers should be located."
The Adirondack Council and other involved parties of this process
have developed four alternative sites -- all within hamlet areas
on existing buildings -- which will equal or surpass the cell
phone signal coverage that could be achieved through construction
of the Frankenpine, Houseal noted.
"The Agency's staff agreed with these alternatives,"
Houseal said. "The commissioners virtually ignored them."
The Adirondack Council is represented in the case by Tom Ulasewicz,
Esq. of the law firm Poklemba, Hobbs and Ulasewicz, LLC. Ulasewicz
is a former executive director of the Park Agency.
The Adirondack Council's mission is to ensure the ecological
integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. Founded
in 1975, the Council is a privately funded not-for-profit organization
with members in all 50 states. The Council carries out its missions
through research, education, advocacy and legal action.
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