By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
The town of Lysander is still hammering out a local law that would regulate wireless telecommunications facilities.
Center for Municipal Solutions consultant Sue Merino called into the town board’s Sept. 12 work session to answer questions as the board worked through the draft. Merino had been scheduled to attend the work session, but she had a conflict in Monroe County.
Merino explained that each applicant seeking to build a telecommunications tower must put up a $75,000 performance security. This covers the cost of the town dismantling a tower in case of safety issues or if a developer abandoned the tower.
“In fact, that’s the only thing that bond can be used for,” Merino said.
While the cost of removing a tower now would be about $25,000, Merino said the amount of the security was estimated based on projections for inflation for the next 10 to 15 years.
“These leases used to be for 30 years,” she said. “Now we’re seeing them for 50 or more.”
Supervisor Joe Saraceni said there would be opportunities to amend these leases as technology progresses, based on his experience with similar towers when he was the mayor of the village of Baldwinsville.
Town engineer Al Yager asked Merino how the town would access private property to remove towers.
“Do we take an easement around these [towers]?” he asked.
Merino said municipalities have a “police right when it comes to safety issues” to enter properties. “An easement wouldn’t be necessary,” she said.
Town attorney Tony Rivizzigno said the town could give developers a period of 90 days to remove a faulty tower themselves before the town took over.
Merino also recommended that the town select one board as the lead agency on telecommunications towers. When town officials last discussed the issue, Yager and members of the planning board were concerned about the law not being aligned with the existing planning process.
“This is designed to go in front of one board, period,” Merino said.
Saraceni said the town board can “take into account the politics of a project,” and the planning board still will go through the site review process for telecommunications projects.
As for the issue of adding another utility to the public right of way, Merino said the town can set its own priorities on where to place these towers.
“In the right of way doesn’t necessarily mean 120 feet tall,” she said, noting that some telecommunications facilities can be built as shorter towers or on existing telephone poles.
After listening in on Merino’s clarifications, Planning Board Chair John Corey said the proposed law would not change the planning board’s role.
“The planning board today does not pick site locations. We just determine that they’re siting properly,” Corey said.
