Mt. Pleasant Cell Tower Not Going Forward
Facing intense public criticism, the Town of Mt. Pleasant announced at Monday’s work session that they would not approve a 110-foot high cell tower that was to be built in the Route 120 section of the town.
Supervisor Joan Maybury said the town had received many phone calls and e-mails from concerned citizens who led the charge against the tower. She said the size of the project was frightening and at the August 14 board meeting, where a public hearing was scheduled to be held, they would announce the project is not going forward.
“This is not in the best interests of the town going forward,” Maybury said. “It was a joy getting to know these people. This is the way the process works. It’s a big problem for that area, nothing comes close.”
Homeland Towers was working with Verizon to construct the tower on a roughly 3,780-square-foot town-owned parcel at the intersection of Bear Ridge Road and Watch Hill Road. Homeland Towers said the tower was needed because there is an interruption of service in the Route 120 section of Mount Pleasant.
About 400 residents have signed paper and on-line petitions in opposition to the plan, while only a few citizens have expressed their support.
The on-line petition states, in part, “I’m concerned about this tower because of its general location, within a quiet family neighborhood, and its specific location, next to a school bus stop at an already dangerous intersection.
“While I understand that companies want to provide good cell phone coverage, I believe it is possible to build infrastructure in a way that is sensitive to the community and to the environment. This proposal is neither.”
Critics of the cell tower plan have said they are concerned that a new tower would reduce their home’s property values; be placed at a school bus stop; would make an already dangerous intersection more troublesome; and would be inappropriate for the Usonia neighborhood, which recently received a historical designation from the federal government.
Councilman Carl Fulgenzi said he was concerned about the dangers of cell phone towers on kids.
“I don’t want to be responsible if one child gets sick,” Fulgenzi said. “I won’t pursue it. I don’t want to do this process if we’re not going to let it continue.
Read more in the August 14 edition of The Examiner.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
