Tale of two towers

Cell tower construction to aid wireless communication

By TOM KANE

DAMASCUS, PA — Damascus Township will soon see the construction of not one but two cell towers.

After over a year of negotiations with the cell tower industry by township supervisor Jeff Dexter, residents will finally get what they have been looking for since the accident on River Road in 2001 between a school bus and a large natural gas delivery truck.

Since there was no cell tower in that area, the driver could not communicate with the school, and parents were fraught with worry for several hours before they heard from the school that the children were safe and unharmed.

“We get requests from residents all the time to have a tower in the township,” Dexter said. “A husband doesn’t know what happened to his wife when she doesn’t come home and he goes out looking for her. Happily, those kinds of things will likely not happen with two towers.”

Two towers will overcome the difficulty faced by one tower, which would not have a very effective reach because of the hilly terrain that exists, especially along the river. Two are expected to make a great difference.

The first tower, which was approved nearly a year ago, will be erected near the intersection of Atco Road and Plank Road, close to Narrowsburg. The second tower will be erected on the township property, behind the township barn on Conklin Hill Road, further north.

The carrier for both towers will be Cellular One, more particularly called South Canaan Phone Company doing business as Cellular One.

Neither tower will be constructed by Cellular One.

“We know that the second tower will be constructed and owned by a company called Wireless Edge Company,” Dexter said. “We don’t know yet who will build the first tower. Cellular One is responsible for contacting the construction company for tower one but the company hasn’t yet been finalized.”

The second tower will not be built until late winter or spring, he said. The first, by Wireless Edge, will be constructed as soon as possible, Dexter said.

At the public hearing on Friday, November 13, there was no serious opposition to the second tower, but there were objections from resident Jay Montgomery at the following town meeting on November 16.

Montgomery, who has two small children and who lives near the second tower, objected that there could be a danger of magnetic radiation coming from the tower for anyone living nearby.

Dexter mentioned that the survey of town residents done more than two years ago in preparation for the comprehensive plan indicated that 83 percent of residents wanted cell service.

“It’s going to be very good for residents and it will improve everyone’s well being,” Dexter said.

The township’s emergency antenna will be erected at the top of the Wireless Edge tower, which will improve the township’s communication range.

Both towers will be less than 200 feet tall, Dexter said.