The characteristically crowded Ancram Planning Board meeting drew only a handful of attendees on Oct. 9 after the board deleted a public hearing on the proposed 100-foot cell tower from its agenda. The updated schedule was sent via Ancramemail, the town’s official email service, the day before the session.
Board President Joe Crocco said the change was because the town’s independent consultants had not yet commented on the new visual impact simulations for the tower on Route 22, which is 50 feet shorter than the original design. The revised analysis, submitted by Verizon Wireless and Homeland Towers at the board’s Sept. 4 meeting, was a result of new “radiohead” technology that boosts antenna coverage from a lesser height.
Since Verizon advanced the initial application for the 150-foot tower to the Planning Board in November 2024, the project has incited strong views regarding its impact on Ancram’s scenic beauty. The board voted to continue the public hearing on the cell tower at a special meeting on Nov. 13.
Both the tower and a proposed 10-acre solar array on Jim Miller’s 95-acre farm off Route 82 have “inundated” the board with correspondence and legal filings, Crocco said, which has proved to be overwhelming. “We got a ton of stuff this week alone,” he said. “There has to be a cutoff or we just can’t get to it.” As an example, he cited a 63-page document — submitted to the Planning Board five hours before the board’s Sept. 25 meeting — by attorney Rhea Mallett, representing a group of Ancram residents opposed to the solar project.
Board member Jennifer Lovelace agreed. “The community may not be aware, but we read every single letter or document that we’re sent,” she said. “Our emails are so flooded that we can’t do our due diligence before each meeting. We need to establish a deadline.”
Attendee Colleen Lutz, a Town Board member, suggested that the deadline for receipt of documents follow Zoning Board application guidelines. “The correspondence should be received two weeks, which is 10 business days before the Planning Board meets, or else it has to be discussed at the following meeting,” she said. The board agreed; member Thomas Brondolo volunteered to write a resolution to be discussed at the November session.
Under old business, the board considered Bronx House Emanuel Camp’s application for a special use permit and site plan review to build a three-unit cabin — for camp worker temporary housing — on its 612-acre property at 159 Empire Road.
Christopher Knox, an engineer with Crawford and Associates Engineering and Land Surveying, PC (of Hudson, N.Y.) said the planned 975-square-foot cabin would comply with building codes and use existing infrastructure for electric and municipal water. “But a new septic system is needed,” he said. “It will be approved in the future by the New York State Department of Health.”
The board determined that the proposed construction had no adverse environmental impacts,
and approved the application, along with the camp’s previously accepted request to build a single family residence on the property.
The next Planning Board meeting and solar array public hearing will be at 7 p.m. on Nov. 6. The board plans to schedule a workshop on both the cell tower and the array in the near future. Crocco said the public can attend that session but will not be allowed to comment.