County approves leases for new radio towers in Kendall, Lyndonville and Holley
ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature on Wednesday approved 5-year lease agreements for new communication towers in Lyndonville, Holley and Kendall.
The county won’t be paying to have the towers on the land, but will share 50 percent of any revenue if telecommunications companies co-locate on the towers.
The towers are part of a $6 million project to upgrade the emergency communication system in the county. The state awarded Orleans a $5,897,141 grant for four new towers, accompanying communication shelters, technology to connect separate radio systems and new radio channels. The project will strengthen communications between multiple jurisdictions and agencies.
Three of the towers will be 180 feet high and they will be located by the Public Safety Building on Route 31 in Albion, Millers Road in Yates near the water tank, and at the Kendall Central School near the bus garage.
The other tower will be 150 feet high and will be near the Holley water tank on Route 237.
The tower near the Public Safety Building is on county-owned land and doesn’t require a lease. With the others, the county has leases with the Village of Lyndonville, Village of Holley, and Kendall Central School.
The lease agreements include options to extend at no county cost for four five-year periods, or another 20 years.
Because the towers are under 200 feet in height, they won’t be lighted, said Dale Banker, the county’s emergency management director.
The County Legislature on June 26 approved a $452,019 bid from Patriot Towers in Scottsville to supply communication shelters and UPS (uninterruptible power source) for the four sites.
The Legislature also approved a $181,200 bid from Fred Nudd Construction in Ontario, NY for four communication towers.
The new towers should be up by late 2019 or in early 2020.
The new towers and equipment are part of an upgrade to the emergency communications system, which serves firefighters, law enforcement, highway employees, probation and some other municipal workers in the county.
The system currently has poor coverage in the Holley area, along Lake Ontario and some other isolated locations in the county, especially in buildings with thick walls.
The county was successful with a grant application through the 2018 Statewide Interoperable Communications Targeted Grant through the NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Office.
