The Cell Tower And The Fight For Mount Kisco's Leonard Park

MOUNT KISCO, NY — Plans to build a cell tower in Leonard Park are moving ahead at breakneck speed, but for those opposed to the massive project, there is still a slim hope.

At first glance, it's easy to dismiss efforts to oppose a cell tower in a park as just another "Not in my backyard," or NIMBY campaign. After all, nearly everyone wants to be able to play Wordle without losing service, but almost no one wants spoiled views, noise and environmental concerns that come with a large cell tower nearby. The activists passionately trying to protect an old-growth forest and popular recreation area in public, however, aren't trying to protect their own personal interests — they are trying to save someplace special for all of us.

"It really is unspoiled here," Theresa Flora marveled as she followed a well-groomed hiking trail in Mount Kisco's Leonard Park. "It's easy to imagine the long houses that might have been built by Native Americans on the sheltered high ground overlooking the river."

As Flora helps me navigate the narrow trail that may soon be a service road allowing heavy equipment and emergency vehicles access to a proposed cell tower, a family with a baby in a BabyBjörn carrier hikes past. She's right. As the woods filter the late morning sunlight and the babbling brooks of the nearby Kensico River watershed drown out the traffic noise and the sounds of frolicking at the pool just a few hundred yards away, it really is easy to feel like not much has changed in the intervening centuries.

A growing group of historians, hikers, dog walkers, disc golf enthuisasts and park users aim to keep it that way.

It's an odd quirk of sports history that has brought an unlikely ally to the table in opposition to plans to build a massive tower in an ecologically protected area of the park. A historic disc golf course designed by the man generally recognized as the father of modern disc golf, "Steady" Ed Headrick, happens to occupy the wooded acres where a new cell tower is planned.

Patch caught up with Flora on a nearly cloudless Saturday morning as the Westchester Disc Golf Enthusiasts (WEDGE) celebrated the 45th birthday of the disc golf course known around the world. Flora is wearing a "Protect Leonard Park" t-shirt as she signs celebrants up for a free raffle for discs commemorating the park's famed tea house and the village's legendary "Chief Kisco" statue.

As Flora walks the 18-hole course, she points out how the hikers and players share the popular recreation area with a mutual respect for each other and the woods.

"It's not just players out here," she explains. "You'll see families hiking, dog walkers, joggers, bird watchers and everybody takes care of the space. You don't see trails this free of trash and litter or this well-maintained anywhere else in town. The whole thing falls apart if they build a tower with a noisy generator and barbed wire and equipment. It will just be industrial."

It's easy to be convinced that the beloved recreation area in a wooded area of a public park is no place for a massive 130-foot-tall cell tower. Perhaps surprisingly, Mount Kisco Mayor Gina Picinich who is a proponent of the Leonard Park location for a new cell tower, doesn't completely disagree.

The mayor points out that if Mount Kisco doesn't approve a permit for a new cell tower, the municipality will likely be ordered to approve a permit. While she says she is "sympathetic" to those fighting to keep the project from being located at the park, she explained that there are few alternatives.

"I understand why some might not like the tower in a part of the park that is special to them," Picinich told Patch. "I appreciate and understand the concerns, but, where do they want the tower built? Should it be built near people's homes? There are hard choices to be made and we continue to look for alternatives, but time is running out."

The mayor explained that one of the reasons that they haven't been sued by cell providers, like other neighboring jurisdictions where there are identified gaps in coverage, is because Mount Kisco has been negotiating in good faith. She said that the village's strategy has helped allow officials to protect homeowners and property values, so far, but a new cell tower will eventually be built with or without their cooperation.

Picinich said her top concern is making sure that the tower isn't built near homes. She said an existing tower in the village that is 700 feet away from homes has not caused a loss in quality of life or a noticeable depreciation in property values.

"This is 100 percent the model," Picinich admitted. "My overarching concern is to keep it [the tower] away from homes."

Mount Kisco is currently negotiating a lease for the tower to be located in Leonard Park. The lease will be contingent on the village getting permission to alienate parkland and a comprehensive environmental review, according to the mayor. These conditions may be more difficult to meet at the Leonard Park location than expected.

While alienating public park lands for cell tower placement is common enough that New York State has provisions in the process specifically for these situations, the actual okay for the permission will require the signature of the governor. Gov. Kathy Hochul has built a reputation as a champion of public lands and has made protecting wetlands and watersheds such as the protected areas of Leonard Park a signature of her administration. The governor's signature on the attempt to alienate the protected parkland for a cell tower would require something close to a political 180-degree turn from the state's highest elected official.

The environmental concerns at the Leonard Park location may well draw another powerful stakeholder to the discussion. New York City has shown fierce determination and remarkable authority when it comes to protecting its water sources. The watershed at the undeveloped portion of Leonard Park is inarguably under that purview.

For her part, Flora is working diligently to raise awareness of plans that she says are moving forward with very little input from the public and those tasked with looking out for the park. She bristles ever so slightly at the notion of being considered an activist, however. She notes that methods, including a change.org petition and offering a t-shirt on Facebook that reads "Don't Cell Our Park," are far from radical activity.

"Although," she says, only half-jokingly and pointing to a towering old-growth oak just feet from the proposed site of the cell tower, "if they were going to take this tree, I might have to chain myself to it. "