Amenia boards approve cell tower permit renewals

AMENIA — During a special joint meeting of the Amenia Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) held on Thursday, Dec. 15, the boards voted to adopt resolutions to renew the site plan, special use permit and height variance for the Sprint/Nextel cell tower on DeLavergne Hill.The Planning Board’s resolution deals with the site plan, and the ZBA’s resolution deals with the special use permit and height variance.The resolutions state that the approval of the site plan, special use permit and height variance will last another 10 years, after which another renewal will be necessary.Conditions of approvalThe resolutions include several conditions that must be met within a given time frame or else the permit renewals will be revoked. Those conditions are:• Natural plantings must be installed on the property to screen the facility. This requirement is in place of the original requirement of artificial screening.• A supplemental landscaping plan must be submitted to the Planning Board and the ZBA within 90 days of the date of the resolutions. The plan will include “replacement of all dead or dying plantings depicted on the original landscape plan and additional natural landscaping and plantings designed to improve the screening of the facility from Route 44 and the Rosendale and Murphy properties.” The applicant is required to complete all of the plantings within a reasonable time, which will be determined by the Planning Board and ZBA when the plan is submitted. The time frame will “take into account the time of the year and appropriate planting season for the vegetation to be planted.”• The applicant will have a generator installed on the property within one year of the date of the resolutions. The applicant will give the Planning Board and the ZBA written specifications for the generator within 90 days of the resolutions.• The applicant is required to post a $30,000 reclamation bond, which will cover the costs of removing the currently existing facility and the generator, should a removal become necessary.• The applicant will have the Reclamation Agreement recorded at the Dutchess County Clerk’s office within 30 days of the resolutions and will give the town proof that that has happened.Findings of factBoth resolutions also contained a list of “Supplemental Findings of Fact and Conclusions” that describe the reasons why the boards decided to renew the permits. Those findings include:• “There is a present need to provide continued coverage using the existing facility.”• “Adequate coverage cannot be provided by reducing the height of the existing tower.”• “Adequate coverage cannot be provided by requiring co-location of antennas on the municipal cell tower, whether such co-location is on the municipal tower alone or in combination with a reduced-height tower on the property.”• “The ‘as-built’ plans signed by a licensed professional engineer or land surveyor ... demonstrate that the base of the existing tower is more than 120 feet from the neighboring property lines. Inadequate evidence was produced in support of assertions that were made to the contrary during the public review process.”• “The building permit was issued for the existing tower no later than June 2003. The time in which to file an appeal to the ZBA from the issuance of that permit has long since expired.... Inadequate evidence was produced in support of assertions that were made to the contrary during the public review process.”The resolutions in their entirety can be read at the Amenia Town Hall.More information about the history of the cell tower and the permit renewal application can be found in archived articles at www.tricornernews.com.