by Carolyn James

Lindenhurst officials said that when it comes to the installation of cellular towers in their community, they want to make the call.

So, in an effort to put give the Village Board time to research and put policies in place, the Village established a moratorium on new towers recently, and will be holding a public meeting to solicit the input of residents before establishing and passing a local law that will place some controls on the installation and location of these towers.

The meeting will be held at the Lindenhurst Middle School, Tuesday, October 24, 7 p.m.

"We want to have some mechanism in place so that as Village officals we can assess the need for these towers, and determine the best locations for them," said Lindenhurst Village Mayor Linda Distler. "We want to have access to experts who can advise us as to whether there are really gaps in service and on other issues that are important as we look to protect the public."

Already, numerous requests to locate cellular towers in the Village have been made, as in many municipalities. Lindenhurst already has one up in its highway yard, but as the use of cellular phones grows, requests for additional towers, which ensure uniterrupted service to cellular phone users, have grown as well.

To provide reliable service, providers, such as Omnipoint or Nextel, must create a grid-like pattern of individual cell sites where the antenna and related equipment are placed. A subscriber using a wireless telephone must be located within a short distance of a cell site. The signal travels from the phone to the antenna and then connects to the ground-based telephone system where the call is completed by the normal telephone route. As the subscriber travels from one area to another, the signal is handed off to the next adjacent cell site, which must overlap to provide continuous coverage. When they don’t, or when a gap exists, the cellular customer experiences a drop—a loss of connection.

Under the Telecommunications Act signed into law in 1966, no state or local government is permitted to regulate the placement, construction and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of environment effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such familities comply with the regulations.

But Distler said the Village law will not impede on the federal statute. Instead, it will simply ensure that the towers are put up in the best location and be as unintrusive on the public as possible.

A telecommunications committee was established in the Village to review the issue, and will be presenting a report at the meeting.

Some of the latest technology is to construct the antennas in a self-contained flag pole. The Village of Massapequa Park is in the process of putting up a 105-foot flag pole antenna in front of Village Hall and plans to install another one.

Generally, either the telecommunications company, or a firm installs and maintains the towers, and pays a montly leasing fee for use of the property. Fees are between $2,000 and $5,000 a month, and can be a source of considerable funds to municipalities looking for new revenue streams.

Once Lindenhurst officials have had an opportunity to review the report of the telecommunications committee and to get input from the public on the question, it plans to establish a local law outlining its policies regarding the towers. A public hearing on that law is expected to be held November 21, Village Hall, South Wellwood Avenue, Lindenhurst.

In other news:

•Mayor Distler gave the board and the public an update on its efforts to take ownership of several parcels of land in the Village under the Suffolk County Greenways program;

•heard a repeated request from resident Anthony Russo of North Monroe Street to have the Village install a four-way stop sign at North Monroe and John Street. Russo said John Street is a speedway and a major hazard to pedestrians and other vehicles in the area.

An initial request for the stop sign was denied on the basis of a report of the Village’s engineer, Phil Cimino, but Distler said she would arrange a meeting between Russo and Cimino to come up with some alternate plan. As Russo pressed the issue, Distler said that while the board was concerned that it would not make a knee jerk reaction that may only make the problem worse. "We have been down there; we have reviewed the issue and will continue to look at it," she said. "But we will not simply put in a stop sign when we do not believe it is a solution."

•the board approved the transfer of ? within the budget in a vote of 4-1 with Trustee Ray Doran in opposition. Doran had asked the board to table the transfers two weeks until he had had the chance to review them in detail; a request for which he was unable to get a second;

•the board was commended by resident and soccer coach Robert Vitiello for the condtion of the soccer fields. "You’ve done an outstanding job and we appreciate it," he said.