Residents Push for Moratorium on Cell Towers

Residents from Bellmore and several nearby towns rallied outside of Hempstead Town Hall Tuesday morning to push for a moratorium on any new cell towers and antennas around town.

Town officials said they have already effectively dealt with the issue by hiring a consultant to work "to make certain that new wireless communications equipment will be sited in the least intrusive locations with minimum possible degree of visual impact."

"When it comes to cell tower issues, someone hasn't checked their voicemail," town spokesman Mike Deery said. "They should have picked up their cell phones and called us before they called a press conference." 

County Legislator Dave Denenberg, D-Merrick, said that while the town considers a new ordinance on cell tower regulations and requirements, it should put a moratorium on all new cell tower/antenna applications.

"Right now there is no moratorium in effect," Denenberg said. "They have drafted the code provisions, but they have not been adopted." 

Town officials said they expect a hearing on the new ordinance to occur next month.

"There are none pending before the board," Deery said of new cell equipment applications to be considered by the town's board of zoning appeals.

If any applications do come up before the ordinance is adopted, the town attorney's office will ask for them to be adjourned, as it has already done on two recent occasions, Deery said.

Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray said she expected the board to adopt the code amendments at its September 21 meeting.

Murray as well as fellow board members made clear, though, that the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 limited the town's ability to regulate where cell equipment can be placed.

"We are taking steps to create additional protections, but quite frankly, the lobbying should be done in the halls of Congress," Murray said.  

Councilman Gary Hudes, whose district includes North Bellmore, echoed Murray on the issue. 

"The court's keeping ruling against us," Hudes said.  "The bottom line is the law is as it has been handed down to us by the federal government. We are at the end of the line. At the beginning of the line is where the work really has to be done."

Many of the people at Tuesday's rally were from Wantagh, at Town Hall to fight against proposed cell antennas atop the Farmingdale-Wantagh Jewish Center.

Additionally there is a cell tower proposed for the North Bellmore Fire District's maintenance facility, located at 847 Newbridge Rd.

Robert Macaluso, of North Bellmore, attended the rally and lives near the proposed cell tower.

"Being 100 feet away from a tower is scary," said Macaluso, who has two children, later adding, "If we try to do anything at the federal level, I will be in my 80s by then."

The North Merrick Library is also considering leasing some of its property to a cell provider.

T-Mobile would be the primary cell provider of the tower, as is the case with those proposed in Merrick and Wantagh.