No Decision Made On Presbyterian Church Cell Tower Application

Southampton Village residents will have to wait at least two more weeks to find out if a new cellphone tower will be allowed to be installed in the historic First Presbyterian Church of Southampton clock tower on the corner of South Main Street and Meeting House Lane in the village.

During a public hearing at a Board of Architectural Review and Historic Preservation meeting on Wednesday, representatives of MetroPCS, trustees of the church, and concerned citizens shared their opinions about the possibility of introducing the cell tower into the 169-year-old church.

ARB members said they did not have enough information to make a decision on the application and ultimately adjourned the public hearing to July 11 in order to review newly submitted material.

The application, which was submitted in May and was the second application by MetroPCS to install an array in the church tower, proposes four antennas to be installed 59 feet above ground level, inside of the tower where the clock faces are. Some of the existing wood siding around the clock faces on the exterior of the building would need to be replaced by fiberglass reinforced polymer (FRP), which would look like the existing wood but would allow cellular waves to be easily transmitted through it. An additional antenna would be mounted to the inside face of a turret at the very top of the tower. The clock mechanism would not be affected.

The existing, historic siding would be removed, wrapped and placed in crates in the churchs basement storage area.

According to Keith Brown of Brown & Altman LLP., which represents MetroPCS, the area of disturbance would be less than 1 percent of the church exterior and there would be no change in appearance at all.

A representative from Stealth Concealment Solutions, which would provide and install the FRP material, produced a sample of the new siding and said that while it would look exactly like the existing wood siding, it would weather differently and perhaps show a slight difference in color over time. He said passersby could not likely tell the difference with their naked eye.

Nonetheless, representatives of the church said the building would continue to be regularly painted and maintained as it has since it was built.

According to church trustee Gerald Adams, the upkeep and maintenance of the church has depended on church membership for financial support. He said that in the 1950s, the churchs membership was approximately 900 people, and now in 2012, it stands at about 400.

The church building is the same, but the membership is less than half of what it was, he said. The fact is, an older church requires more maintenance and more funds with less members contributing.

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No Decision Made On Presbyterian Church Cell Tower Application