Edgemont Community Council comes up with constructive suggestions dealing with NextG application

The Edgemont
Community Council, Inc.
Founded in 1947 to determine community opinion on civic matters and coordinate community action thereon and to
plan and promote the general welfare of the community embraced within Union Free School District #6.
Post Office Box 1161 Scarsdale, New York 10583
Website:
www.edgemontcommunitycouncil.org
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/EdgemontCommunityCouncil
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January 5, 2012 – Public Forum on Cell-Phone Antennas in Residential Neighborhoods
Welcome. I'm Geoff Loftus, and I'm the president of the Edgemont Community Council. Before
we get started, I'd like to thank David and Holly Younger who were so instrumental in making
this meeting happen, and all the people in Edgemont who helped make tonight's meeting happen
by reaching out to me, to other ECC directors, and to Supervisor Paul Feiner. You made it clear
you felt strongly about this, and I thank you for all your help.
The main portion of this meeting will be a presentation on the legal issues surrounding NextG's
application to install antennas in residential areas, followed by a Question & Answer period.
However, we have some news that developed late this afternoon that may be very good news:
As of Dec. 16, 2011, Crown Castle announced that it had reached agreement to acquire NextG.
Crown Castle holds an exclusive license to operate wireless facilities on State property including
right-of-way on roads such as Central Avenue, Dobbs Ferry Road and Saw Mill River Road.
Crown Castle's purchase of NextG would remove any impediment to NextG's use of the right-ofway,
and that was the primary reason for NextG's request for a special permit.
Michelle McNally, a former ECC president and member of the Antenna Board of Review, has
written to Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner as an individual, urging him to refer NextG's
application back to the Review Board, and late this afternoon, Mr. Feiner said he intends to do so.
The long and the short of this is: Since NextG, as a part of Crown Castle, should now be able to
provide service without installing residential-area antennas, it is highly unlikely it will granted a
special permit to do so. At least, that’s what we think will be the case, but we haven’t heard from
NextG yet on this new development, so we can’t say for sure that will be the case. But we think it
will.