Sure It’s Eight Stories Tall, But Think About What A Nice Flagpole It Will Make!

I’m sympathetic to a neighborhood’s concerns that a proposed cell phone tower is an ugly eyesore, but opposing it on the grounds that it might fall over seems like a stretch:

Community members challenged Omnipoint Communications’ plan to build an 82 foot tall wireless communication tower in Ozone Park’s Bayside Cemetery last week, calling for the company to make it half the size.

Set 20 feet from the cemetery’s south border and roughly 70 feet from Pitkin Avenue homes, the damage that the falling pole could potentially cause was the principal concern that drove Community Board 10’s Thursday recommendation.

“It’s too big. It’s just too big for a residential area,” said Ozone Park resident and community board member Anthony Cosentino. He added that the tapered pole will be weaker as it rises above wind shielding trees.

After Omnipoint representative Robert Gaudioso said that the tower will be disguised as a flagpole and its flag could be as large as 12 feet, the board’s Land Use Committee Chairman John Marus likened it to a sail driven mast.