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The following prepared remarks were delivered at Tuesday night's Scarsdale Board of Trustees meeting:
In response to several inquiries that I have received from residents, I'm reviewing the topic of Distributed Antenna Systems: A single antenna, radiating at high power, is replaced by a group of low-power antennas providing wireless service to the same area.
The village received a request from an applicant, a Distributed Antenna Systems service provider, for the village to amend the Village Code to permit the operation of DAS technology in the village right-of-way. The service provider, NextG, has received a certificate of convenience from the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) recognizing NextG as a utility and granting them permission to locate their equipment in the right-of-way throughout the state, subject to municipal approval. The denial of such cannot be arbitrary and capricious.
The Village Board of Trustees has requested that the Planning Board review the proposed zoning code amendment and provide a recommendation and feedback. The Planning Board will hold several work sessions to discuss this matter and we anticipate many technical and operational details will be discussed which may be of some interest to residents. The public is welcome to attend these work sessions. If you "subscribe to news" at our village website, you will automatically receive an e-mailnotification of the work session dates and times.
With regard to specific questions, the Federal Telecommunication Actof 1996 prohibits local governments from utilizing health-related issues as a basis for denying a provider's application. The provider must meet the established FCC standards for emissions. Additional standards cannot be imposed by our local municipalities. As this service is classified as a utility by the PSC, municipal approval must be obtained, and the application to install a wireless facility must be given due consideration. Failure to give an application due consideration could result in costly litigation and expose the Village to significant financial damages.
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