Plans to put a 200-foot cell phone tower at the Addison Township Fire Department Station #1 have been squashed.
John Cran, an attorney in Rochester representing Verizon Wireless, recently contacted the township to say they were ‘not interested? in the proposed site at 4026 Forest St.
Michelle Gilbert, a spokesperson for Verizon Wireless, said the decision to not use the 2,400 square-foot land was ‘based on (negative) feedback from residents.?
‘We’re looking at several different alternative sites in the same vicinity because we acknowledge we need to improve service in the community,? she said.
Although the piece of land Verizon was going to put the tower on is owned by Addison Township, it is actually located inside the Village of Leonard, which was a concern that weighed on the minds of the township board and Leonard village council president, Geno Mallia, Jr.
At the township board’s March 19 meeting, board members were concerned they’d be pitting neighbor against neighbor if Addison signed the proposed land lease without positive feeback by the village.
Mallia, who spoke as a resident and not village council president that night, said the tower would seem out of place at the ‘gateway? to the village and that it was the ‘wrong place? for the tower.
Mallia later told this reporter he was upset that ‘Addison would want to utilize the Village of Leonard as a money-maker? by not sharing the revenue with the village or fire department, though it was Verizon who approached the township originally and monetary figures were never discussed.
Mallia also said it would make more sense for Verizon to put a tower north of the village at the township’s 300-acre Watershed Preserve, where village approval wouldn’t have to be sought.
‘It simply would not effect the village in any way, shape or form,? he said.