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Business & Tech

Residents Protest Proposed Cell Phone Antenna

A Ronkonkoma neighborhood rallied against the proposed antenna, owned by T-Mobile and to be located on a LIPA transmission tower.

Angered by the proposed installation of a cell phone antenna on behalf of provider T-Mobile on a transmission tower owned by the Long Island Power Authority, a vocal group of Ronkonkoma residents assembled in protest at the corner of 11th Street and Bay Avenue Saturday morning.

Waving picket signs and shouting "Say No Cell," the protesters hoped to direct greater attention to the proposed antenna which, several protesters claimed, was approved without due notice to the neighborhood.

Jamie Mare, who lives on 11th Street, first started seeing new survey markers within the last two months. Letters she sent on Jan. 13 to Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko and Brookhaven Town Councilman Tim Mazzei, she said, received no response. Mare said that the vote never came before a Town of Brookhaven meeting, but was instead approved by the buildings department.

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Recently, her and others present had been corresponding with Anthony Powell, an aide for Mazzei, and an unidentified aide for Lesko. Thus far, she said, little headway had been made, similarly criticizing State Senator Lee Zeldin for perceived inaction on the issue.

An e-mail of her correspondence with Powell obtained by Sachem Patch read that, "the application did not come before the Town Board. The application was submitted to the Town's Building Department who then processed it and made a determination based on the information provided by the applicant."

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Powell also stated in the e-mail that, "the Town does not have jurisdiction to deny the application filed by T-Mobile. Since LIPA is a state agency they are not required to adhere to the Town's Zoning Policy. From the information provided, the Building Department had no choice but to issue the permit."

The town code, continued Powell in the correspondence, specifies when to notify neighbors for applications requiring a public hearing, which would include site plans, variances, zoning changes or when special permits are required from either the Planning Board or Board of Appeals. As a state agency, he concluded, LIPA is exempted from these instances.

LIPA spokesperson Vanessa Baird-Streeter refuted Powell's assertion regarding the Town's zoning policy, explaining that upon entering into a contract with T-Mobile, whom she said had approached LIPA with the proposal, abiding by town codes and zoning requirements was a stipulation of the deal. 

"Because we're entering into a contract with a cell phone provider, the provider is subject is to local town and building ordinances," she said. "The statement is inaccurate." 

Baird-Streeter added that she had spoken with several local residents, explaining this and recommending that they speak to the Town of Brookhaven as well.

"We had legal grounds [to protest] because LIPA did not divulge what they were doing," said Joan Burns, a 40-year resident of Bay Avenue. "I have it in writing."

Local resident Darrin Pfaff, who also lives on 11th Street, said he first saw workers at the site about two months ago. When he asked what they were doing, he said he was told, "None of your business." 

He added that the site was cleaned up just days before the protest, with orange fencing around hazardous areas, including a pile of rubble. He was particularly concerned about a safety cover over a 200-amp service at the site that was, he said, not very safe at all and did not offer proper protection. The site is also near the location of a school bus stop.

Gregg Freedner, a board member of the Lake Ronkonkoma Civic Organization, said he'd hoped to put pressure on the board of LIPA and the five-member Public Authorities Control Board, which oversees LIPA and other state agencies with the purpose of budget approval, through Zeldin and State Assemblyman Al Graf.

Like the others, he was discouraged by what he perceived as a lack of communication among the parties involved. 

"The town can be responsive, but they were not on this issue," he said, citing the cell phone antenna installation at the Five Corners which he said was hammered out more amicably. "That's disappointing. I fault the planning board and LIPA for not reaching out to the community."

Kurt Johnson, whose property borders the land used by LIPA for the transmission towers, was angry about the redrilling of a hole on the site without apparent need for a variance, after one was abandoned due to hitting an underground well. He said he had been in contact with LIPA senior field supervisor Charles Edmonds, who he added had agreed that the community should have received proper notification.

Johnson was also concerned about possible long-term health issues from the antenna. 

"'They're perfectly safe,'" he said. "That's all they ever say."

Freedner concurred: "It's unproven science what cell phone towers do healthwise," he said.

Compounding Freedner's frustration was the recent evidence of overbilling by LIPA - to the tune of $231 million, according to a story published Feb. 8 by Newsday.

"They need more cash?" said Freedner incredulously. "Think about the irony."

This was not the first battle the neighborhood has waged against the utility. In 2006, a proposed reroute of the Iroquois gas pipeline connecting Commack to the Caithness facility in Yaphank, to be placed underground beneath the power lines and along LIPA's rights-of-way, was halted. 

LIPA spokesperson Vanessa Baird-Streeter said that upon entering into a contract with T-Mobile, whom she said had approached LIPA with the proposal, abiding by town codes and zoning requirements was a stipulation of the deal. Baird-Streeter said she had spoken with several local residents, explaining this and recommending that they speak to the Town of Brookhaven as well.

The Town of Brookhaven, T-Mobile, and the offices of Mazzei, Lesko, Edmonds and Zeldin have yet to comment.

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