Skaneateles Lake residents are up in arms and posting signs saying "Save the Lake."
Recently they discovered that agreements and plans are being made for an additional cell tower 300 yards from shore of the lake in Niles. Residents and town officials were surprised to learn there are no cell tower laws on the books in their town yet.
Scenery from the shores of Skaneateles Lake abound in every season. Considered a jewel of Upstate New York, neighbors say this could be marred soon by a proposed cell tower in the Town of Niles.
Meg and Randy Green have worked and saved for decades to have their home on Skaneateles Lake. Now they’ve learned a cell tower could go right next door.
“[Meg’s] parents were both teachers and there were five girls, and so they moved out to Lourdes Camp every summer and lived there, and it’s been Meg’s dream to always be back on Skaneateles Lake at some point," said Randy, of Niles.
The Greens say this doesn’t just impact their dreams, but it could also impact the local tourism economy.
“When a 150-foot cell tower is placed 1,200 feet off of Skaneateles Lake, every boater that goes by our house is gonna stare right at it. Everybody that maybe wants to rent a home in the area in Cayuga County the Town of Niles may choose to go elsewhere,” says Green.
Some residents on the eastern shore of the lake oppose the cell tower as well.
“They’ll be staring at it every time they look at Skaneateles Lake. They have been very vocal in opposition to the construction at least this close to the lake,” emphasizes Green.
This grassroots effort by local neighbors has led to a petition to town officials, and tonight at 7 p.m. they will have another opportunity. A moratorium on all telecommunications towers is on the town meeting agenda.
Brody Smith is the town attorney for Niles.
“The purpose of the moratorium would be to allow the town time to adopt a local law that takes into account surrounding land uses when determining the suitability of placing a telecommunications tower in any give location,” said Smith. “The federal telecommunications act preserved the authority of local governments to make reasonable non-discriminatory decisions regarding the placement of wireless telecommunication towers.”
According to documents, Verizon and Blue Sky Towers LLC investigated 15 other properties in the area before leasing this property for a new cell tower in August.
Jared Lusk, a partner with Nixon Peabody, is the counsel for the telecom companies.
“A request to table our application was sent to the Town of Niles on November 2 to explore alternative locations,” said Lusk.
"It’s literally robbed us of the reason we want to be here,” said Green.
Verizon maps show that currently two cell towers service this area. One is located in Mandana; the other is in Spafford.
Spectrum News reached out to the property owner in Niles that signed a lease agreement with Verizon to have the tower built on her land. She did not call us back.