Date: Fri 27-Nov-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Holcombe-Hill-Antennas

Full Text:

Town Wants Emergency Antennas On Holcombe Hill

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The town is seeking to install antennas for emergency services radio

communications atop an outbuilding on Holcombe Hill, the highest point in

town.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said Monday the plan under consideration

would provide transmitting antennas for fire, ambulance, and police radio

communications at Holcombe Hill, an 86-acre land preserve off Great Hill Road

owned by the Newtown Forest Association. The hilltop is 830 feet above sea

level.

Mr Rosenthal said police have encountered various problems over the past

several years with their plan to install a police radio antenna on United

Water's water storage tank off Reservoir Road.

The proposed Holcombe Hill antenna placement would provide a good location for

police communications, as well as fire and ambulance communications, he said.

Earlier this year, police sought a variance from the Borough Zoning Board of

Appeals for an antenna placement on Reservoir Road, but the appeals board

denied the request.

In light of that rejection, Borough Zoning Commission members have been

developing an amendment to the borough zoning regulations which would pave the

way for an antenna placement on the water tank. The commission has not yet

acted on its proposed zoning amendment.

Compounding the difficulties, a radio shack for transmitter equipment would

have to built near the water tank. Building a radio shack there poses some

construction difficulties.

Mr Rosenthal said Holcombe Hill antennas would require radio transmitter

equipment in an existing outbuilding, so no new construction would be needed

there.

The town wants to relocate emergency services' radio transmitter equipment

from Edmond Town Hall to a new location to improve communications reliability.

"Hopefully it will improve (radio) service for safety through the town," Mr

Rosenthal said.

Mr Rosenthal said Holcombe Hill "clearly is the better site. It's higher."

"I thought this would do everybody a favor," he said of his efforts to find a

good location for police, fire and ambulance emergency services radio.

If the Police Commission isn't interested in locating police radio facilities

on Holcombe Hill, that site would only be used for fire and ambulance radio,

the first selectman said.

"It would be very nice of the forest association if they are willing to do

this," Mr Rosenthal said.

Meeting

Police Chief James E. Lysaght, Jr, is slated to speak to forest association

directors soon to explain the town's antenna placement proposal.

Two individual whip-style antennas would be needed for a facility. Such

antennas are 14-feet tall and two inches in diameter. A propane-fired

electrical generator would provide a back-up source of electricity in the

event of electrical outages. The town would spend an unspecified amount for

such an installation.

Wesley Gillingham, head of the forest association, said association directors

will be discussing the antenna proposal with Chief Lysaght.

The association is "very flexible" in terms of the proposal, he said. He

pointed out, however, the land conservation group doesn't want an antenna

placement to be a "visual sore thumb" on its property.

Mr Gillingham said the association has been creating a trail network on

Holcombe Hill intended for family-based passive recreation.

The association received Holcombe Hill in 1997 as a bequest from The Estate of

Josephine Holcombe. The property, which now serves as the association's

headquarters, contains a main house, caretaker's house, garage and barn.

At the last meeting of the Police Commission November 4, Chief Lysaght told

commission members of the first selectman's proposal for a radio

communications facility on Holcombe Hill for police, fire, and ambulance

services.

Police Commission members will decide whether to continue pursuing their plans

for a police-only Reservoir Road radio communications facility, or whether to

pursue combining their facilities with the fire and ambulance services as part

of the Holcombe Hill proposal.