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HURLEY, N.Y. — Zoning Revision Committee members plan to use zoning regulations in other municipalities as a template for 5G cellular installation applications but the change may be too late to address two AT&T requests.

Planning and Zoning Clerk Maggie Colan on Wednesday said the AT&T applications have been submitted for poles at Riverside Park and the intersection of Wynkoop Road and U.S. Route 209.

“It’s a three- to four-foot antenna that gets placed on top of a building or a telephone pole but they don’t (transmit) like a regular cell tower does,” she said. “The distance that they can transmit is much shorter.”

Colan said an initial review has been conducted of the AT&T applications. “They need an area variance and they are appealing that and will begin that process at the December Zoning Board of Appeals meeting,” she said.

“Central Hudson put in new poles at both locations,” Colan said. “Both poles are … (about) 43 feet and they are going to put a four-foot antenna on top of that 43 feet to make it 47 feet.”

Officials said the committee plans to review regulations adopted in other communities to determine whether there are sections that can be used for Hurley.

“We have gotten the Woodstock (law) and have extracted what they did for 5G,” Colan said.

The Woodstock Town Board expects to vote Dec. 13 on regulations that would control where small cellular transmitting equipment can be placed based on avoiding conflicts with community character, using existing infrastructure, and being able to verify all information on radio frequency radiation as required under federal regulations.

Opponents of 5G cellular service spent a year getting Woodstock officials to write local regulations that avoided conflicting with federal rules that prohibit municipalities from addressing health concerns. Under the proposed town regulation. equipment owners would need to provide an analysis of “all potential less intrusive alternative sites” as well as include information about how the coverage area would be different from the proposed site.

The draft local rules would also follow federal provisions for monitoring radiation levels, including the combined levels of all services on a pole or antenna.

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