More cell towers to bring service to Northway

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October 12, 2009

By KIM SMITH DEDAM The Press Republican Mon Oct 12, 2009, 10:40 AM EDT

RAY BROOK — Two cell-phone towers, recently approved by Adirondack Park Agency commissioners, will bring service to the remaining “dark” stretch of Interstate 87.

T-Mobile is expanding its communication system in the Adirondack Park and has received 19 permits — mostly for co-location on existing towers — since last October, said departing Regulatory Programs Director Mark Sengenberger.

Two of five new towers planned will provide islands of coverage in a mountainous stretch of Northway between North Hudson and Elizabethtown.

It is the one remaining stretch of nearly 40 miles of Interstate 87 — from Pottersville to Peru — that remains without some cell-phone signal.

SIMONDS HILL ROAD

Both T-Mobile towers will be built with fake brown-bark tower sheathing and ersatz pine boughs to blend with the forest backdrop.

The first tower, a 93-foot monopine, will be erected on Simonds Hill Road in Elizabethtown, west of the Northway.

The tower will hold flush-mounted antennae and is designed at a height to add one other telecommunications carrier, likely AT&T.;

T-Mobile looked at five potential sites nearby before choosing Simonds Hill, said Lee Walrath, staff planner at APA.

The traveling public will see the tower for about 1,900 feet of I-87 — or roughly 20 seconds at 55 miles per hour — from the southbound lane.

It is visible for 1,280 feet — or for about 14 seconds — from the northbound lane, Walrath said.

APA received one comment letter in support of the cell tower.

UNDERWOOD CLUB

The second T-Mobile monopine will be built off exit 30 along Route 9 on private land the Underwood Hunting Club.

T-Mobile looked at six sites before choosing the location, Walrath said.

The single-carrier, T-Mobile tower will be built 88 feet tall, also disguised as a white pine.

APA staff worked at length with the company engineers to consolidate new power lines on existing wires.

Cables delivering power and phone signals to the tower’s equipment cabinet will be buried underground.

APA received no comment letters on this project.

Both towers were approved by the full board.

TALLER TOWERS URGED

After the presentation, Sengenberger told commissioners APA staff has become well-versed in gauging how discernible cell towers would be against the wooded landscape.

“A balloon (test) alone would lead us to conclude many of these towers are substantially invisible from the get-go.”

Sengenberger that said using the general cell-tower permit process would allow carriers and the APA to reduce costs, and he urged commissioners to consider allowing taller towers in the park for co-location.

“We’re not talking hundreds more towers,” he said.

Commissioner Lelani Ulrich turned to T-Mobile representative, attorney Jeffrey W. Davis of the Syracuse firm Hiscock & Barclay, and thanked him.

A few years ago, the perception was that telecommunications companies weren’t interested in the Adirondack Park, she said.

“It’s wonderful to see that changed.”

E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at:

kdedam@pressrepublican.com