By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

With 5G mobile network technology on the horizon, Lysander Supervisor Joe Saraceni wants to make sure the town is ready to handle new telecommunications towers. Saraceni has sought the help of consultant Sue Merino to draft a local law that would lay out parameters for “wireless telecommunications facilities” in the town code. The proposed law would also require developers to seek town board approval for special use permits for such towers and facilities.

At the work session preceding the Lysander Town Board’s Aug. 22 meeting, members of the planning board and town engineer Al Yager expressed their reservations about the proposed law.

Saraceni said telecommunications company Mobilite recently approached the town about installing towers in the public right of way, as utilities such as National Grid do.

“They’re trying to fill in dead spots for the next round of technology,” Saraceni said.

Planning Board Chair John Corey said the planning board has approved telecommunications towers in the past.

“We’ve been doing it for 30 years or so,” Corey said.

“That doesn’t mean it’s right,” Saraceni said. “There are towers that probably haven’t been inspected [in years].”

Yager said the planning board and zoning board of appeals handle development proposals on private parcels, and the town board handles applications for development on the public right of way.

“What is the reason for having the town board involved in a simple development?” Yager asked. “If it’s on a private parcel … well, that’s just like any other use of that facility from a codes standpoint.”

While he said he was supportive of the proposed law’s intent, Deputy Supervisor Bob Geraci questioned a section of the proposed law indicating that telecommunications developers would have to prove that there is a need for their facility.

“Who am I to judge this need?” Geraci said.

Hugh Kimball, a member of the planning board, said the town of Elbridge was once involved in a lawsuit over a similar “need” clause.

“It’s a business decision,” Yager said. “That’s one of those things where, to me, it makes sense to keep it at the planning board.”

Yager said allowing telecommunications structures in the public right of way would be an additional liability to the town. He said the public right of way along highways in Lysander already include fiber optic cable, electricity, sewer and natural gas lines. Adding another utility would be an obstacle to repairing issues such as water main breaks.

“This is a luxury, not an essential element,” Yager said of possible 5G lines. “This is just one more obstruction for us to deal with on top of the eight other utilities buried in the ground.”

In addition to the possible repair obstacles, allowing such towers in the public right of way could lead to problems if a tower falls or breaks. Corey and Yager said the planning board process and the town code require a “clear fall zone;” in other words, a developer must build their telecommunications tower on a parcel large enough that if the tower falls, it lands on the developer’s property and not a neighbor’s.

“Once you start putting towers into the right of way, it’s a whole new ballgame,” Corey said.

“We don’t have that clear zone on our property,” Yager said. “If a tower falls off your site, it becomes a neighbor’s headache.”

In that situation, the neighbor on whose property the broken tower falls is responsible for cleaning up the mess. Saraceni said businesses carry multiple types of insurance in case something like this happens.

While Saraceni and Geraci were largely in favor of the proposed law, Councilor Bob Ellis expressed his own reservations.

“I trust the planning [board] and ZBA to go through the nuts and bolts. I don’t know that I, as a town board member, would have anything to add,” Ellis said. “It sounds like a couple more layers.”

The town board will continue to discuss and revise the proposed telecommunications tower law. Consultant Sue Merino will be present to discuss the proposed tower law at the next town board meeting on Sept. 12. The work session begins at 5:30 p.m. and the regular meeting begins at 7 p.m. A draft of the proposed local law can be found at bit.ly/lysander822.