Date: Fri 11-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Holcombe-Hill-antenna

Full Text:

Estate Blocks Antenna Plan For Holcombe Hill

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

A proposal to install two town emergency radio telecommunications antennas at

the Newtown Forest Association's land preserve atop Holcombe Hill has run into

opposition from the estate of the late Josephine Holcombe.

Doug Rogers, an executor of the the Holcombe estate, has threatened that the

estate will sue the forest association if the association allows the town to

place radio transmitters and antennas for police, fire and ambulance services

on Holcombe Hill, according to First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal and Police

Chief James E. Lysaght, Jr.

One antenna would be used for police communications; a second antenna would be

shared by firefighters and the ambulance corps.

Holcombe Hill, an 86-acre land preserve off Great Hill Road, is the highest

point in Newtown and considered the best place to install radio antennas for

thorough radio coverage.

Mr Rosenthal said December 4 the forest association isn't opposed to such an

antenna placement, but the Holcombe estate is opposed. The estate bequeathed

the Holcombe Hill property to the association. The association has its

headquarters at Holcombe Hill. At 830 feet above sea level, Holcombe Hill,

which has a 360-degree view, is the highest point in Newtown.

Mr Rogers, a forest association member, is a former association president.

Contacted by telephone December 8, Mr Rogers said "I'm not going to discuss

the matter with you."

The Holcombe estate doesn't want town radio gear on the property, he said.

Forest association president Wesley Gillingham said "Our hands are pretty much

tied. We do have to abide by the wishes of the estate."

"Right now there's nothing we can do about it because of the estate," he said.

"It's (proposal) going to stop here unless something happens."

At a December 1 Police Commission meeting, Chief Lysaght told commission

members he had a telecommunications firm perform an analysis of the best place

to position antennas for thorough local radio telecommunications.

The police chief said "The Holcombe property was head-and-shoulders above the

other sites. It really addressed the problem with the (existing

communications) `dead spots' in town."

Emergency radio antennas are now positioned at Edmond Town Hall. That

placement, however, results in poor or non-existent radio communications in

certain areas of town.

For the past several years, the Police Commission has been developing plans to

relocate only the police department's radio antenna, but not the

fire-ambulance antenna, from Edmond Town Hall to the United Water water

storage tank on Reservoir Road to improve communications coverage.

Appropriateness

Some members of the Newtown Forest Association believe it isn't appropriate

for the town to place radio antennas on a two-car garage on Holcombe Hill, so

they denied the town the use of the property, Chief Lysaght told Police

Commission members. The antenna needed by police is a rod 10 feet tall and two

inches in diameter, he said.

Commission member William Meyer said the town should explain to the

association that antenna placements won't pose aesthetic problems.

"If it's (location) so much superior, we ought to at least sit down and try to

reason with these guys," Mr Meyer said.

Chief Lysaght had been scheduled to explain the antenna placement proposal to

the association, but after the Holcombe estate's objection to the plan arose,

that meeting was canceled.

"This puts us back at `square one,'" Chief Lysaght said.

Police Commission member James Reilly urged that Chief Lysaght return to

developing plans for a police antenna placement on Reservoir Road.

That project, which has been in the works for several years, has been fraught

with difficulties.

Placing an antenna on Reservoir Road hit a stumbling block earlier this year

when the Borough Zoning Board of Appeals turned down a requested zoning

variance for the project.

Following that rejection, the Borough Zoning Commission started developing

proposed regulations on public emergency services radio telecommunications

facilities. A public hearing on the proposed regulations is scheduled for

December 15.

Mr Rosenthal said December 4 the installation of town radio antennas at

Holcombe Hill would be unobtrusive, adding the site is technically the best

place in town to put antennas. Construction of a radio shack wouldn't be

needed there, he said, noting that radio gear could be placed in an existing

building. The Reservoir Road site requires construction of a radio shack for a

police antenna placement.