NEXTg hearing postponed-to Feb 7 (no hearing this wed on application)

The public hearing re: NextG Network's applicatin to place antenna's around town will not be held this Wednesday evening. The hearing will be rescheduled for Tuesday, February 7th at 7:30 PM at Greenburgh Town Hall. The February meeting will be held on Tuesday evening, not Wednesday evening.
The following memo was sent to me by Town Attorney Tim Lewis and concerns the application.
PAUL FEINER


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From: Timothy Lewis
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 6:48 PM
To: Paul Feiner
Subject: NxtG


The public hearing related to NextG Network’s application for Special Permits from the Town Board to provide cell phone, WiFi and other services to areas where gaps in service currently exist is being adjourned from Wednesday, January 25th to February 7th, 2012 to provide additional time for the Town’s consultants, HDR Engineering, to examine the technical feasibility of NextG relocating its DAS Antenna Systems, using Radio Frequency (RF) technology, to nonresidential areas. NextG has previously appeared at numerous Antenna Review Board (“ARB”) meetings and participated in several site visits, during a review process that commenced in 2009, and believes that the issue of whether coverage could be provided to customers by locating facilities outside of residential districts has been definitively demonstrated to the ARB in compliance with Section 285-37 of the Town Code. Nevertheless, NextG has agreed to provide additional documentation to the Town Board and its consultants to continue its review of the application and to investigate the possibility of relocating three (3) of the proposed systems to alternative locations along the Central Avenue Mixed-Use District.



Significantly, the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits state and local governments from regulating the placement of wireless service equipment based on concerns about the environmental effects of RF emissions and there are several federal cases that substantiate this. Any attempts to deny Special Permits to NextG using health concerns or Radio frequency emissions as a basis could be the source of costly and indefensible litigation.