Law in Hammond halts RidgeviewTel
HAMMOND — In 2008, when RidgeviewTel, based in Longmont, Colo., first put equipment up on the Hadlock farm in the town of Hammond, some 30 customers from the community paid less than $30 dollars a month for wireless Internet service.
However, according to a consultant with the company, an unusual local law brought his company's progress to a halt.
"The long and the short of it, as it ends up, is that RidgeviewTel didn't jump through all the hoops required by the town board," said consultant Daniel C. Churchill.
Mr. Churchill said the town of Hammond has a telecommunications law, "unlike any other town in New York state, certainly unlike any we've seen in the north country."
He said Hammond's law requires a town permit to build on private property. It also requires RidgeviewTel to pay for the town to hire a communications consultant to review the firm's plans at a cost of about $3,500 — something that his company may not be able to do.
"We're talking a two-foot-by-six-inch component that attaches to a private silo on the Hadlock farm — basically a WiFi router. There is so little power to it, but it's being treated just the same as a 200-foot cell tower. We've already had the equipment on that silo," he said. "RidgeviewTel has similar situations at 16 different privately-owned silos, all over Jefferson and Lewis counties, and we're not running into such problems. All we've needed for other municipalities is a building permit to build on private structures."
Mr. Churchill and Hammond resident Theodore P. Elk had addressed the town board during its November meeting to request that the fees be waived, to no avail. Mr. Elk approached the board with the same request at Monday's meeting, and was told that the issue had already been discussed.
"We've been over this story before," said Town Councilman Ronald E. Tulley II, before joining Supervisor Janie G. Hollister and councilmen James Pitcher, James Langtry and Russell Stewart in unanimously voting down the request.
Mr. Elk has fought alongside RidgeviewTel over the course of the past year or so to get the project moving.
"In June, the code enforcement officer authorized three towers (wind measurement towers). All in one day," he said. "One was 260-some odd feet tall, and two others about 100-feet tall, respectively. The Hollister monarchy required no engineering study for those though, saying they were temporary structures. The hoops that RidgeviewTel is being made to jump through, to place such a small amount of equipment onto a 90-foot silo — it's outrageous. There's less going on on that silo than on the roofs of most houses with TV antennas."
Saying he understood the safety issue in general, he noted that the silo met building codes when it was built. He also noted that RidgeviewTel is using an unregulated frequency that is not under Federal Communications Commission control.
"They (the board) really roast my feet," Mr. Elk said.
Mr. Churchill also expressed his frustration with the board.
"I understand the board will be turning over in January," he said. "We're hoping to sit down with the new administration to hash things out."
Supervisor Janie G. Hollister will step aside for Ron W. Bertram on Jan. 1. The rest of the Hammond Town Board will consist of Mr. Pitcher and Mr. Langtry, joined by Dr. James R. Tague and Douglas E. Delosh, who were both elected in November.
