Planning Board Finalizes Proposed Code Regulating DAS Antennas

Though DAS antennas are already installed on state-owned streets in Scarsdale, the Planning Board has been working on revisions to Village code to regulate their placement at additional sites around town.

Some residents were dismayed to learn that Next G, now Crown Castle had applied to place the antennas on utility poles on their front lawns and called on the Village to step in. Federal law prohibits the Village from banning the companies from installing the antennas but the Village does have the power to require special use permits and to regulate the appearance and placement of the antennas. In order to draft new code regarding these antennas the Village retained attorneys Best, Best and Krieger (BBK) to interpret the law and assist with the drafting of the new code. The DC based firm specializes in telecommunications cases and has handled disputes with NextG/Crown Castle in the past.

They have been working with the Planning Board on the new code for over a year and have now presented the final draft for the Planning Board to approve and send to the Scarsdale Board of Trustees to pass into law.

The consultants' goal was to advise the Village on:

• Protecting residential property values against the harm of placing obtrusive facilities on residential streets
• Maintaining community character
• Avoiding unneeded facilities
• Ensuring protection against RF radiation

After much deliberation they have made recommendations for requirements for telecommunications providers to obtain special use permits to place antennas in the Village right of way.

Among their recommendation are the following provisions:

• The applicant must hold a franchise authorizing use of village streets
• The facility must fill a service gap
• A new utility pole only if an existing pole is not available
• Applicant must comply with radio frequency standards dictated by the FCC
• No stand-alone towers will be permitted in Village streets
• The antennas can only be placed on major arterial roads where there are already aerial facilities (such as the Post Road, Weaver Street or Popham Road).
• The antennas must be a proscribed distance from other antennas
• The antenna cannot be more than 120 feet high
• The antenna itself cannot be larger than four feet tall
• The applicant must apply for an entire planned network to allow the Village to assess its overall impact.
• Permits will be limited to a term of five years

Links to all of their presentations and a draft of the suggested code can be found on the Scarsdale Village website on the Planning Board page here: 

At the September 25 meeting, the Planning Board reviewed the final changes, heard comments from the audience and considered voting on the matter. However, Jospeh Van Eaton of BBK advised them that the FCC would soon issue new regulations that they might want to consider before passing on the proposed code. In addition, representatives from Crown Castle who attended the meeting asked for additional time to comment. Specifically they objected to the requirement that the antennas could only be placed on arterial roads as they wished to place the DAS antennas on smaller residential streets.

Planning Board members agreed to give Crown Castle a week to send in their comments and to hold over the vote on the matter until the next meeting.