Wading River residents voice objections, concerns about proposed 190-foot tower at fire department

Wading River residents turned out at Thursday’s Riverhead Town Board meeting to object to a proposed new communications tower at Wading River Fire Department headquarters.

About a dozen Wading River residents showed up to voice concerns about or opposition to the proposed  190-foot-tall tower, which will be topped with fire district communications antennas. The antennas will bring the total height of the structure to 213 feet, according to the application made jointly by Elite Towers and the Wading River Fire District. The tower itself, called a concealment pole, will have 10 cellular antennas within its structure.

Wading River Fire District officials told the Town board the department needs a new communications antenna, largely because of poor radio coverage with the existing antenna. The fire department headquarters was built in a low-lying, heavily wooded area surrounded by hills, Wading River Fire District Commissioner Terry Cullane said. 

The consequence of the department’s current communications equipment is  a real-life threat to the lives of residents and first responders, Cullane said. The commissioner recalled firefighters battling a fire who were unable to  communicate with headquarters or Suffolk County dispatch. He underscored a few other examples demonstrating the need for the new antenna, he said. Among them was a WRFD member who slipped and fell on an exterior stairway at the headquarters and suffered a substantial head injury, Cullane said. Another WRFD member, came upon the injured firefighter but had no cell service and couldn’t leave the injured man to go inside the firehouse to use a land line, he said.  

Greg Alvarez, an attorney for co-applicant Elite Towers, said the company and the fire district are sharing costs and revenues associated with the tower, which will replace the existing antenna at the fire department headquarters site. The cellular antennas will improve cell phone service on the north shore, he said.

Residents complained that they had no information about the application prior to receiving a mailed notice of the public hearing, and that the notice did not provide them with sufficient time to learn about the application and the impacts of the new antenna. Several residents asked the board to table the matter and schedule a sit-down with the community. 

Some residents told the Town Board they are very worried about the health effects of radio frequency waves emanating from cellular antennas. Many residents were concerned about the height of the new tower and some expressed worry that it would have a negative impact on nearby property values. 

Joanne Romano of Wading River was one of the residents who spoke about health concerns. 

She said there is a significant amount of information regarding health impacts of cell towers on humans on the website maintained by the International Association of Firefighters. 

“The IAF opposes the use of fire stations as base stations for towers and or antennas for the conduction of cell phone transmissions until it is proven that such stings are not hazardous to the health of the members,” Romano said. 

The FCC regulations pertaining to cell towers were put in place in 1996 and have not been updated, despite a court order mandating the update, Romano said.

“I am at least requesting that we wait for these findings to come back from the FCC,” she said, “so we can understand how much radiation can we accept without getting cancer,” Romano said. 

Robert Bellow, a 53-year resident of Wading River who said his home is directly behind the firehouse, said his concern was aesthetics. “In the middle of the wintertime, this thing is going to be, aesthetically, just sticking right out. This is in the historic district of Wading River, he said.”I don’t believe it would fit in, right in the middle of the town.”

According to a Riverhead Planning Department staff report, a visual impact analysis prepared for the applicants concludes that “visibility in the surrounding area would be limited as the area is dominated by significant and dense tree cover in the area. Furthermore, in the areas in which it is visible the towers design, a concealment pole, with all wireless antennas located within the structure, and that the pole will be painted a neutral color will aid in mitigating any adverse visual impacts.”

The Town Board voted to close the hearing but kept the record open for written comment until Nov. 18. No vote on the application has yet been scheduled.