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LAKE GEORGE---An environmental group's lawsuit against the Adirondack Park Agency in an attempt to block the construction by Sprint Nextel of a proposed 104-foot cell tower disguised as a huge pine tree beside Lake George has been dismissed by state Supreme Court Judge Frank Williams on a technicality.
The project had been approved last year by the APA.
The suit was dismissed because the plaintiffs, Adirondack Council, had failed to serve the proper paperwork in a timely manner on the owners of the land. He refused the council's request to extend the deadline "in the interest of justice".
The lawsuit said that in granting the permit for the tower in the hamlet of Pilot Knob, the APA had ignored provisions of the law designed to protect the wilderness.
In his decision, Williams wrote that "the Adirondack Park Agency's issuance of a permit to install a simulated pine tree wireless telecommunications facility…will remedy the present lack of wireless service to emergency responders, residents and tourists in the Lake George Basin while blending with the natural surroundings so as to be substantially invisible. ….The APA board unanimously voted to grant the permit following a comprehensive four year review process".
The Council had called the tower "Frankenpine" and said it would set a precedent of ugly towers throughout the Adirondack Park.
A conditional permit for the tower had been approved by the APA in July.
The group may appeal the decision. 1-20-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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