Broadband developer says misleading information presented about Carlton tower

CARLTON – North Shore Networks LLC in Medina is responding to an Orleans Hub article on Wednesday about neighbors asking Carlton town officials to halt the project for further review.

North Shore said many of the claims about the tower from residents are not accurate.

The tower is part of a $11,216,500 contract from North Shore Networks with Orleans County to implement faster internet service. The county in November 2024 was awarded a $11,562,698 state grant to upgrade wireless internet service throughout the county.

North Shore said the tower will be 150 feet high, not 160 feet, because there is no 10-foot-high lightning rod on top. North Shore wants to put the tower on land owned by the Village of Albion by the water treatment plant on Wilson Road. North Shore and the village approved a lease on Aug. 5, 2025.

The tower will be owned by Orleans County. North Shore Networks designs, builds and operates the network under contract with the county.

The tower at the Village of Albion Water Department is one of 21 wireless hub sites in a county-wide network designed for Orleans County’s ConnectALL Municipal Infrastructure Program Project. “Existing towers and structures were evaluated for co-location where they could meet the network’s requirements, and siting new sites on municipally owned property was a deliberate element of the design,” North Shore said.

A group of residents in Carlton led by Rick Stacey say there are several procedural errors in the Carlton project that warrant holding off construction. Stacey said there are better sites that would be safer for nearby residents and wouldn’t be a visual blight along the Lake Ontario shoreline.

The Carlton Planning Board last week approved a different driveway path to allow access to the site. Crews will use the driveway for the water treatment plant and won’t be on private property.

Residents say the fall zone for the tower cuts across a private access road for Oak Orchard on the Lake. But North Shore says a full-height collapse would not reach Oak Orchard on the Lake.

Construction began in late July 2026. The only interruption has been the change to the driveway path.

The original site design used Oak Orchard on the Lake for access, and construction vehicles used that road during the first days of construction. After neighbors raised concerns, the access route was relocated, North Shore said.

The amended site plan approved August 3 routes access via the water treatment plant driveway off of Wilson Road. Crews have not used Oak Orchard on the Lake in several weeks and will not use it going forward, North Shore officials said.

“North Shore Networks is not aware of any damage to the road from that brief use, and would repair any that is identified,” the company said.

The tower in Carlton is part of an effort to increase wireless internet speeds from the current 25 Mega Bit Per Seconds (Mbps) to 100 (Mbps).

CORE Environmental Consultants is the project’s environmental engineering firm. It managed the State Environmental Quality Review process, and prepared and presented the updated special use permit materials for the driveway revision. CORE is not the structural engineering firm for this tower.

The neighbors, in a letter presented to Carlton officials, said the tower’s 82-inch diameter pole will be anchored in a 20-foot diameter concrete ballasted base sitting entirely above ground. North Shore said the pole has a diameter of 43.4 inches at its base and tapers to 11.8 inches at the top.

The neighbors cite other concerns, including the fall zone over residential lanes and critical utility paths. The tower would be sited 28 feet from the primary high-voltage overhead power lines feeding the water plant.

North Shore Networks consulted National Grid regarding the design of this site, North Shore officials said. “The overhead lines adjacent to the tower are local distribution lines. They do not serve the Village of Albion water treatment plant, which is fed by three-phase service from Wilson Road, outside the fall radius of the monopole,” North Shore said. “National Grid has confirmed that the tower and its compound fall outside the utility’s easement area for those lines.”

The tower design, the foundation design, and the structural and mount analyses were prepared by professional engineers licensed in New York State, and the construction drawings bear their seals, North Shore said. Those sealed drawings were submitted to the Town of Carlton as part of the special use permit application, and again with the building permit application. Structural and mount analyses are completed for each site in the county-wide network prior to construction, the company said.

The environmental review was conducted under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, with Orleans County as lead agency, and a negative declaration was issued. The application was referred to the Orleans County Planning Board, which recommended approval. The project’s Full Environmental Assessment Form records that no State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit is required for this project, North Shore said.

North Shore said there is no danger to the neighbors at oak Orchard on the Lake of “extreme ice-fall and ice-shedding projectile.” The tower is 150 feet in total height. “A full-height collapse in any direction would come to rest within the Village of Albion water treatment plant parcel, and would not reach Oak Orchard on the Lake,” North Shore said.

The neighbors also questioned if a multi-ton steel structure should be sited into the Lake Ontario beachfront water table. North Shore said the tower is supported on a ballasted foundation designed by professional engineers licensed in New York State, and selected for stability given the site’s proximity to the lake.

The neighbors also shared concerns about the tower affecting operations for crop dusters and other airplanes. The tower is 150 feet above ground level, below the 200-foot threshold that requires FAA notification. “The site is not within the vicinity of an airport or protected airspace that would otherwise require notification. No FAA notice or determination is required for this facility,” North Shore said.

The article on Wednesday also noted that the Carlton Town Board voted to hire Bridget O’Toole as special counsel for the town regarding the tower. The article initially stated O’Toole was a law partner with town attorney Doug Heath of Holley. They are no longer partners. O’Toole runs the O’Toole Law Group on Latta Road in Rochester.