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ImageSeven months after Cingular first brought a proposal for a Lansing cell tower to the town government, it has finally been approved. The Town Board voted unanimously in favor of the tower in their July meeting. The tower will be constructed on Mary Searle's property on Conlon Road.

The hold up was due to Cingular's failure to provide information to the board that they needed to make their decision. Cingular representative Ryan Janowski frustrated the board by giving them incomplete information, or by not providing it in time for them to study it before board meetings. At the Board's request Cingular sent Attorney Douglas Dimitroff, and Damon Hobbs, a Cingular engineer, in May to answer all outstanding questions and provide the needed documents.

Last month the town put off a final vote to give the County time to respond to the documents, and the final vote took place at the July 21 Town Board meeting. Board Member Marty Christopher said, "After seven months the board has been provided with enough information to make an extremely intelligent decision." He noted that it took too long for that to be the case, but he was comfortable in calling for a vote. Board Member Doug McEver pointed out that the one thing that had not been discussed was camouflaging the tower, for example "painting it powder blue instead of silver." Mr. Dimitroff replied that detail could be worked out at the time of construction, and there would be no problem addressing it. He noted that towers are usually painted "grayish or whitish" to blend with the sky.

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Douglas Dimitroff and Mary Searles

At that Town Supervisor Steve Farkas called for a vote, and the board unanimously approved it. The tower will be about 190 feet tall. Cingular will enter into a 25 year contract with Mrs. Searles.

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