R’ville Sheriff’s tower to host new company

Thursday, June 28, 2018 - 14:06

— Enterprise file photo

Plans for the Albany County Sheriff’s communications tower in Rensselaerville includes two spots for commercial carriers. One will be leased to Mid-Hudson Data Corporation.

RENSSELAERVILLE — A Rensselaerville cell tower — built as part of a public-safety network for the Albany County Sheriff’s Office — is set to be hosting a new company. On June 11, the county legislature authorized an agreement between the sheriff’s office and Mid-Hudson Data Corporation that would allow the company to use the sheriff’s radio tower at 231 Edwards Hill Rd. in Rensselaerville.

Mary Rozak, the spokeswoman for the Albany County Executive’s Office, said on Tuesday that the measure has not come before County Executive Daniel McCoy to sign yet, but that he would be signing off on it.

The landowner at Edwards Hill Road will be paid $9,600 annually for the next five years by Mid-Hudson, according to a request written by Sheriff Craig Apple to the legislature. Apple’s request identifies the owner as Rick Gangi.

The tower was designed with two extra spots for other companies to use the tower, and the lease agreement between the landowner and the sheriff allowed Gangi to rent the tower to other companies.

The tower was constructed, after a controversial decision in 2016, to serve as a communications tower for the sheriff’s office. The Albany County Legislature passed a resolution in February 2016, stating that towers for the sheriff’s system would be “immune from local regulation.”

A group of Rensselaerville residents, which did not object to the need of improving emergency communications, filed a suit unsuccessfully, arguing that the proper process hadn’t been used in approving the tower.

The suit stated that Rensselaerville had not complied with the town’s tower-siting law, because the town planning board had assumed it would be used only for public safety. The suit warned that this may not be the case, as the application had shown the two “commercial carrier” lease areas.

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