Approved Tusten tower to modernize service

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

NARROWSBURG, NY — Communications engineer David Groth helped Richard Lander convince the Tusten Zoning Board of Appeals that a 300-foot tower will provide better wireless signals and attract more cellular vendors than a previously approved 200-foot tower.

After weighing concerns about increased visual impact in the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, caused both by the 36-inch wide lattice-structure tower and the white strobe light on top to alert airplanes, the board approved Lander’s application for an area variance, which allows the 100-foot height increase.

Lander said the communications tower will provide spaces for local fire department antennas and other municipal services, increasing dispatch efficiency in the town. With maps illustrating range of cellular coverage at varying heights, Groth argued that PCS and high UHF frequencies, used by cellular companies such as Verizon and Cellular One, only begin to open up when antennas are placed above 180 feet.

“If signals just begin to open up at 180 feet, it would be physically impossible [on a 200-foot tower] to put all the service antennas at high enough levels. Each antenna has to have enough physical isolation to be effective,” Groth said.

Lander and his partner, Bill Reynolds of WSUL radio in Monticello, believe the tower will fill signal gaps between Beach Lake, PA and Lava, NY, particularly along Routes 52 and 17B where increased tourism traffic is expected in coming years.

In an area where sufficient demand for cellular access is uncertain, board member Ned Lang said the tower could fail to attract vendors like Verizon. He described two smaller towers in the Town of Highland that have left residents disappointed because of vacancy.

Reynolds reminded the board of his and Lander’s vested interests in the region’s communications progress because they both live in Sullivan County, and he assured members that he has relationships with “a number of companies that utilize tower space.

“We also realize that the investment we’re making is considerable, and we believe we will secure enough customers,” he said.

Reynolds told the board that he has received two applications from radio stations that will seek Federal Communications Commission approval to place transmitters on the tower.

Because it will provide more steady signals, Groth said the single 300-foot tower will prevent the need for proliferation of 200-foot towers, which are permitted in the residential district by Tusten zoning law.

The taller tower will also present a more attractive investment since it will assure better signals, he said.

National Park Service Superintendent David Forney asked the principals of Tusten Tower, LLC if they had conducted a visual impact study of the tower. Lander replied that they had not, but said the tower, which will be located at least a half mile off Route 97 on wooded property in Royal Oaks Estates.

“From the Narrowsburg Bridge and the Big Eddy, you will probably see the Narrowsburg feed mill before you see the tower,” Lander said.

In other business, Planning Board Chairman Ed Jackson asked the board if they would communicate support of the Big Eddy Waterfront Revitalization Plan to the Tusten Town Board.

A grant in the late 1990s funded design of the waterfront project by tri-county planner Tom Shepstone, who advanced the idea of a boardwalk to provide access to basement floor retail spaces overlooking Narrowsburg’s Big Eddy. Jackson said building owners have recently voiced renewed support of the plan.

The board decided to send a letter of support to the town board, encouraging re-initiation of the plan.

And, the board approved a variance for Harriet Cohen, who plans to replace an existing deck that will exceed the required 35-foot side-yard setback by seven-and-a-half feet.