A Pushback Against Cell Towers

By blocking, or seeking to block, cell towers and antennas over the course of the last year, Long Island (NY) homeowners have given voice to concerns that proximity to a monopole or antenna may not be just aesthetically unpleasing but also harmful to property values.

Many also perceive health risks in proximity to radio frequency radiation emissions, despite industry assertions and other evidence disputing that such emissions pose a hazard. Emotions are running so high in areas like Wantagh, where an application for six cell antennas on the Farmingdale Wantagh Jewish Center is pending, that the Town of Hempstead imposed a moratorium on applications until Sept. 21. That is the date for a public hearing on a new town ordinance stiffening requirements. At a community meeting on Aug. 16 at Wantagh High School, Dave Denenberg, the Nassau county legislator for Bellmore, Wantagh and Merrick, told more than 200 residents that 160 cell antennas had been placed on telephone poles in the area in the last year by NextG, a wireless network provider. "Everyone has a cellphone," Denenberg said, "but that doesn't mean you have to have cell installations right across the street from your house." Under the old town code, installations over 30 feet high required an exemption or a variance. But in New York, wireless providers have public utility status, like LIPA and Cablevision, and they can bypass zoning boards.