SPECIAL PLANNING BOARD MEETING
CANAAN, NY 12029

APRIL 30, 2008



This meeting is for the purpose of interviewing lawyers and engineers for the review of the cell tower application at Berkshire Farm.

The meeting was called to order at 7:17pm. Ian Hooper was absent.

The first interview was for Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna. John Hanna and Dave Everett appeared. This is a 80 person firm with long experience (20 years) dealing with cell towers. Mr. Everett said he has 20 years experience in land use and specializes in environmental and land use law. He has worked on 40 cell tower projects. He has had experience in Chatham with their cell tower. He was on the committee to write cell tower law for Chatham as well. He has lectured for the Association of Towns on land use for training sessions. He said Canaan’s law is very comprehensive and he read about Nextel’s litigation with Canaan.

Ron said this application is unique since the proposed site is outside an approved zone. Ron said Scott Olsen had mentioned that Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna could have a conflict of interest. Mr. Everett said they do not represent Verizon or Mariner. They also said they would go back to the office and verify there is no conflict. Mr. Everett said they would not have come to the interview if they had felt there was a conflict. Mr. Everett asked who the property owner was and Ron said Berkshire Farm. Mr. Everett said they have never represented Berkshire Farm.

Mr. Everett said he had worked with Dave Cooper on the ZBA re: height regulation on a house on Mercer Mt. Ron said he had already gotten positive feedback on their law firm. Mr. Everett said they had represented several municipalities and provided a list of such.

Mr. Everett asked about an escrow account and drawing down from it. Ron said it was in the process of being set up. Ron said he had asked the applicants to produce 2 more sets of documents; one for the lawyers and one for the engineers.

The lawyers asked if there was something from the Nextel litigation that they needed to be aware of that might have a bearing on this application. Ron said no because Nextel went to Court basically because they were stalling in producing documents.

Pierre said he has issues with the Town’s tower law and feels it may need to be revised. He would want this done before it moved forward. He questioned whether the current law met FCC regulations. Also, he said the proposed site is outside the approved districts and thinks it needs a floating zone. He thinks there is a loophole that needs to be addressed.
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Ron said Verizon wants this site because there is a dead zone in Town. Ron and Michael don’t feel a floating zone is necessary. Ron said the burden of proof is on the applicant.
Michael stated the lawyers proposal was from October and asked if their fees are still the same. The answer was yes. Ron thanked them for their time.

The next interview was for Erdman, Anthony & Associates with Linda Stancliffe representing the firm. She stated this company is more than 50 years old with the headquarters in Rochester. There are 350 engineers and surveyors with 12 in the Troy office. She is a landscaper and has been with the company for 10 years. Ron asked what services she would provide and Ms. Stancliffe said there would be an engineer at every meeting and they would review the documents in advance.

Michael asked if she represented Verizon and Ms. Stancliffe said no. Pierre asked if she had GIS modeling capabilities and she responded no that for view shed analysis she uses topography in 3D models. Pierre said a few properties would be affected by the view and felt GIS was needed. Ms. Stancliffe said 3D models would work. Pierre felt GIS could be necessary to protect the Town. Ms. Stancliffe said the best way to look is for a crane test. Ron said that is not feasible right now.

Pierre asked if she had any experience with camouflaging? Ms. Stancliffe said she has worked for 9 years on a tower on Lake George which is substantially invisible to EPA regulations. She has worked on color work for the pole and for “needles”. She also worked on several silos as well as stealth towers on church steeples. Ron asked how much that would increase the cost to the applicant . Ms. Stancliffe said it would be substantial, probably 2 to 3 times as much as a monopole. Pierre asked if there was any coloring on the antennas themselves. Ms. Stancliffe said she only had experience with the monopoles and not the antennas. Ron estimated this site is 400 feet below the summit and you can see dark green evergreens and a rock site. Ms. Stancliffe said she has not had good results with paint since it fades. She also said you can apply plastic to the front of the antennas to camouflage them.

Pierre asked what kind of model could be done to show the road? Ms. Stancliffe said you get the applicant to create a 3D model with the road and the trees cut out to show how it would look. The limits of grading would need to be shown and said she has a lot of experience with this.

Michael asked if she does site planning? Ms. Stancliffe said she handles the project from start to finish. Any electrical questions would be referred to Rochester. She said she has reviewed and written Environmental Impact Statements.

With no further questions, the Board thanked her for her time.

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C.T. Male Associates with Edwin Vopelak (Vice President) representing. C.T. Male was started by Union College and has been doing cell tower work since the mid 1990’s. Mr. Vopelak stated he personally has been involved in all or most of the cell tower cases. The team would be himself, Dave Plante and other engineers as needed. They have worked in Esperance, Schuylerville, Schodack and Chatham.

Michael asked if he has represented any applicants? Mr. Vopelak said NYNEX before it became Verizon. No providers now and currently he is working on wind farms.

Ron said the proposed road has 20 % grade, it can be done at a lower grade but it will be much longer. Ron asked if it becomes an issue, could his firm design a road that would meet specs? Mr. Vopelak said yes. Mr. Vopelak said he did not feel the Town needed this tower and felt the motivation was Berkshire Farm. Ron said there is a dead zone and the Route 22 corridor is heavily traveled to Vermont.

Pierre asked Mr. Vopelak if he had GIS capabilities in house ? He said yes. He said they have done GIS and mentioned he has worked on the view shed at Olana with GIS.

Ron asked if he would review what the applicant has prepared and require more ? Mr Vopelak stated it depended on how much work the applicant had done. There may need to be more work done.

Michael asked about the RF studies and Mr. Vopelak said they review the RF studies. If a specialist is requested by the Town, he can provide information on that. Michael then asked if he would do the SEQR review? Mr. Vopelak said he has numerous people on his staff to do this.

The Board continued with the next interview.

Bond, Schoeneck & King with Robert Feller representing. Mr. Feller said their main office is in Syracuse and his office in Albany has 20 lawyers of which 3 specialize in environmental law. He stated he has extensive experience with Planning Boards and has handled several cell tower applications including Lake George. He said he has done a lot of SEQR work and on visual impact. He has worked on SEQR training teaching a breakfast program on visual impacts at Kozel‘s. He stated he has reviewed the Town’s law and feels the cell tower law is impressive.

Ron asked if he had worked with any towns. Mr. Feller responded Lake George. Mr. Feller asked if the proposed site was inside an approved district. Ron said no but the applicant can request a tower outside the approved area but it would not need a variance. Both agreed that the applicant must show they need the tower outside the approved area.
Ron asked if Mr. Feller has any current work with Verizon or Mariner. Mr. Feller said he
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had checked and there was no conflict and said he would check again.

There were no more questions for Mr. Feller.

Board discussion
Lawyers- Ron asked if the Board wanted to look at Marc Gerstman at a later date? Michael said he wanted to go with Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna; they live locally and their rates were competitive. Pierre said he had been to training seminars with both law firms represented tonight and he prefers Dave Everett with Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna.

MOTION TO RETAIN WHITEMAN, OSTERMAN & HANNA AS COUNSEL FOR THE CELL TOWER REVIEW-Michael Belknap Second-Jennifer Mickle

Roll call Chairman Davis-Abstain (stated his daughter is married to John Hanna Jr.)
Jennifer Mickle-yes
Pierre Gontier-yes adopted
Joe Davis-yes
Michael Belknap-yes

Engineers-Ron said Erdman, Anthony has represented Nextel and liked some of Ms. Stancliffe’s experiences. Joe said he liked her personality better and liked the answers she gave on camouflage. Michael said his concern was there were only 12 people in her office and feels RF studies are critical. Pierre said there will be storm water issues with this and feels CT Male has an advantage with this. Joe felt the Board needed to go with experience and CT Male has more. Jennifer felt CT Male has more direct experience especially with Towns. Michael felt Ms. Stancliffe was engaging but CT Male was not, he felt it would be just another project to them. He did feel CT Male has more experience. Pierre said Ms. Stancliffe has gone thru the most stringent of all state agencies (Adirondack Park) and did well.

MOTION TO APPOINT ERDMAN, ANTHONY & ASSOCIATES AS THE ENGINEERING CONSULTANT-Pierre Gontier Second-Joe Davis
All in Favor

Roll call Chairman Davis-yes
Jennifer Mickle-yes
Pierre Gontier-yes adopted
Joe Davis-yes
Michael Belknap-yes


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Site visit- John at Berkshire Farm will work with anyone’s schedule for a visit. Ron described the site to the Board members and said the tower will sit about where the swath of the tornado went thru several years ago. It will be 145 feet and will not exceed the ridgeline. Ron feels 2 sites at Shaker Ridge will be visually affected. The members made plans for 3 people to visit at a time.

Ron will call Dave Everett and Linda Stancliffe to say they were selected.


There was no more business before the Board.


MOTION TO ADJOURN-Michael Belknap Second-Joe Davis All in Favor


Meeting was adjourned at 9:35pm.





Respectfully submitted,



Tammy C. Flaherty
Planning Board Clerk

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