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Residents oppose cellular tower for Lewis Pond Circle site Babylon Village officials will be meeting this week to discuss the comments and concerns raised by residents at an informational hearing that was held last week on a proposed telecommunications tower at Lewis Circle Park off Fire Island Avenue. The meeting brought out about 120 residents, almost all of whom opposed the construction of the tower, which would, if approved, be the second located on Village owned land in Babylon. "We will be sitting down this week to talk about the concerns residents raised and will make a decision as to whether we will proceed," said Babylon Village Mayor Ralph Scordino. "But I listened and my feeling is that the board is not going to force anything on the residents that they don't want." Residents said that the location was ill- conceived. "I understand that in this day in age, we need these towers, but to put it near a park is ridiculous," said Marlene Ruggiero, who lives near the proposed site. They also raised other issues such as safety and the potential health risks from living near these towers. "There are a lot of questions about the health effects of radio frequency emissions and that tower just doesn't belong there," said James Schlee, another resident. Ruggiero added that while she and her neighbors understand that these telecommunications towers are vital, another location that is further away from residents, parks and playgrounds should be found along the South Shore, where the Beacon Wireless, the Village's contractor, said a tower is needed. "This is going to block our view, be too close to a park and have refrigerator sized generators in a flood area," Ruggiero said. "It doesn't make sense." "They are telling us that this is not going to impact on our property values, but I don't see how it can't," said Schlee. "One minute the view from my house is of boats and a seashore, and the next it will be of a 100-foot tower." Residents were also angry that the Village did not provide the community with more time to spread the word about the meeting for the proposed tower, which would be 80-feet tall and used for police and fire communications as well as commercial wireless providers. Village officials said they decided to consider the site at Lewis Circle after learning that the owner of a piece of commercial/marine zoned property near there, at 21 Post Road, was preparing to apply to the Village for permission to put up a cellular tower. That application, filed by Degarmo Marine, is currently pending, and under a new law passed by the Village Board last year, will have to undergo more in-depth review, including coming before the Village Board for approval. The FCC licenses every wireless service provider in the country. These providers need towers and or buildings to provide services to consumers. In 1996, the Telecommunications Act was established, preventing states and local governments from "regulating the placement, construction and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Commission's (FCC's) regulations concerning such emissions." The law states that municipalities may not arbitrarily refuse to have these towers put up when telecommunications companies can show the need for coverage. A study by the Center for Municipal Solutions, which acts as a clearing house for municipal information, reports that local communities can control a wide range of things related to communications towers, however. They can restrict towers on speculations, that is without a service provider who can prove the need for the facility; the location, without violating the prohibition against "zoning them out" of communities. Municipalities also have a say in the height, visibility, number of sites within a community, lighting, signage, screening, site security, and insurance and can restrict them when it can be shown they will interfere with other communications and electronic devices.
"They can say what they want about these towers not being health risks," said Ruggiero. "I am not willing to take a chance with my children's lives."
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