To the Editor:

For the past couple of months, the visual impacts associated with communication towers have been in the news.  Some people want them located in their proposed location while others would like consideration given to the scenic resources within the development of the plan.  I agree that communication is an important component and, as a past volunteer firefighter in a rural community, I completely understand the needs.

As a professional planner, I find it disheartening to see this taking place at this point in the process because it means that community involvement wasn’t included. As a result, an inferior plan has been developed that only focuses on a singular element vs. thinking holistically.

When this happens, one group feels they “won” and the other feels they “lost” the battle.  The main reason that people, myself included, are so upset over the current tower proposal is because despite Sheriff Craig Apple’s statements that he has encouraged public input throughout the entire planning process and that he takes offense to anyone who says otherwise, public input was never asked for during the development of a plan.

The first time Berne residents started to hear about this project was at a Berne Planning Board meeting  in March when a substandard plan was presented with what can only be considered as intentionally deceptive visual assessment. I say this both as a resident and as a planner who has presented plans to the public many times.

The Helderbergs are an incredibly scenic area that many people appreciate. Some would say that they are just as scenic as the Adirondacks or the Catskills. With any kind of development, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

The right way is generally a result of a collaborative effort that is at least consistent with a town’s comprehensive plan, which reflects the values of the community. In this case, Albany County’s consultant stated they developed their plan without even looking at comprehensive plans, which is clearly evident and a mistake.

If they were to have even glanced at the Berne Comprehensive Plan, they would have seen how important the scenic resources are to the community in both the survey results and the general plan text — but they didn’t.

It has been stated that the people who are opposed to the current tower locations are costing the county time and money. If the public were actually involved from the beginning and the consultants were directed to use the town’s comprehensive plans when designing the system, the communication system would already be built and the towers would be substantially invisible, as they are throughout the Adirondacks.

Ironically, one of the key people in charge of making sure the towers in the Adirondacks blended into the scenery lives in Berne and has offered his expertise on numerous occasions to no avail.

There’s no doubt that the Hilltowns lack communication in certain areas. No one denies that. There are proper planning and design standards that should have been included from the beginning but weren’t — and that’s the main reason why there’s a controversy.

My hope is that, with these towers, that Sheriff Apple, the town boards, and the Albany County Legislature can realize that, just because something has been done poorly in the past, doesn’t mean that it should continue to be done poorly.  It’s been proven many times that a communication system can be integrated into natural scenery or an urban environment and blend in.

The county could use this opportunity as a chance to learn, both how to work with a community as well as how to site its communication system so it is substantially invisible and works well.  It will be interesting to watch the choices people make.

For more information, please attend the upcoming public hearing in the Berne Town Hall, June 16 at 7 p.m. and share your opinion to the Berne Planning Board. All are welcome.

Mark Hohengasser

Berne