L&M Publications
Merrick Life • Bellmore Life • Freeport-Baldwin Leader • Wantagh-Seaford Citizen

The Town of Hempstead’s zoning Board of Appeals has postponed its hearing on two applications by T-Mobile to install wireless equipment in North Bellmore and Wantagh, to enable the town to finish drafting a new telecommunications ordinance that could keep the equipment away from schools and residents when possible. 

The North Bellmore application was rescheduled for September 15. The Wantagh application was rescheduled  for October 6. Both hearings will begin at 2 p.m. at Hempstead’s Town Hall in Hempstead. 

On July 14, the town of board of zoning appeals voted to hold off on reviewing the applications until the Town has finished drafting a new telecommunications ordinance that could keep the equipment away from schools and residents when possible. 

T-Mobile had placed an application to install six wireless communication antennas concealed inside a proposed 100-foot high monopole and equipment cabinets on the ground of 847 Newbridge Road, land owned by the North Bellmore Fire Department, Engine Company 2, at Columbus Avenue, across from East Meadow Avenue. 

Searching for better places?

A meeting was held on June 30, at the North Bellmore Fire Department, so that residents could learn more about the project. 

T-Mobile representatives did not show up but “Senior Deputy Town attorney Charles Kovit told residents that their consultant would look over the application to see if T-Mobile did everything it could to find a better location for its equipment,” wrote North Merrick Civic Association President Claudia Borecky in an e-mail. 

Ms. Borecky is a member of the Telecommunications Taskforce which represents residents in Bellmore and Merrick, who are trying to curtail the placement of wireless equipment near schools and residences. Although some residents have voiced concern over the proposed project in North Bellmore, Renaldo Nunez, president of the North Bellmore Civic Association has no objection to the project. 

“We already have [wireless equipment] on Newbridge Road. It is better than a tower somewhere else, closer to a school,” said Mr. Nunez. “It’s either there or another place that’s more visible.”

T-Mobile’s Wantagh application has drawn considerable community ire in Wantagh many neighbors are opposed to the proposal to build six antennae on the roof of the Farmingdale-Wantagh Jewish Center on Woodbine Avenue in Wantagh, in the center of a residential community.   At a meeting on July 7, over 100 residents made it clear they didn’t want the cell antennae in their neighborhood. On July 18, residents turned out again for a demonstration outside the temple.

T-Mobile has also approached the North Merrick Library about erecting a 50-foot flagpole cell tower to replace the flagpole that stands in front of the library. 

The North Merrick Civic Association has asked if T-Mobile is willing to install the tower on  the Meadowbrook Parkway instead of the library.

By Laura Schofer

Laura Schofer, staff writer for L&M Publications, has been recognized with several awards for many of her feature pieces published in Bellmore and Merrick Life, The Citizen and The Leader.