The Springs Fire District will mount antennas for its emergency communications on the cellular tower at its Fort Pond Boulevard property, despite the building permits for the tower having been revoked earlier this week.
District Board of Commissioners chairman Pat Glennon said on Friday that the district will install the antennas even as its commissioners and their attorneys discuss how to proceed following Tuesday's revocation of the tower's building permits by the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals.
The antennas will increase the range of department VHF radios as well as boost the strength of signals to Springs Fire Department members' emergency pagers, Mr. Glennon said.
No cellular telephone antennas can be installed on the tower, he added, because the private carriers would each have to get permits from the town to install equipment, which will not be possible until the legality of the tower itself is settled.
After midnight on Tuesday night, the town ZBA revoked the building permit for the tower after determining that it was issued in error by town building inspectors. The ZBA found that even though the fire district is a municipal entity, which has exempted other districts from review of cell towers, it must submit their application for further consideration by the town.
Mr. Glennon said the district has not yet decided whether it will challenge the ZBA finding in court or take up the application for the tower again and pursue an approval from the town.
Residents have challenged the tower and threatened a lawsuit after it was constructed on the district's property last spring. Neighbors said there was no public notification of the plans for the tower—but on Tuesday ZBA member Don Cirillo pointed to minutes from fire district commissioners' meetings from 2013, 2014 and 2015 that showed the tower was discussed numerous times at public meetings.
Michael Wright on Dec 4, 2015