WASHINGTON-For the second time in as many weeks, the National Park Service has returned an antenna-siting application to a wireless carrier as incomplete and in doing so may have unwittingly bolstered chances for E911 federal property antenna-siting legislation that House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) plans to introduce.
The return of antenna-siting applications to Cellular One and Bell Atlantic Mobile for Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., could become a key factor in crafting a bill to fund upgrades to 911 emergency call centers with fees paid to the government by carriers that erect towers on federal land.
Bell Atlantic Mobile resubmitted its application last week, and it is under consideration by the National Park Service. Cellular One has not re-applied yet.
The chance for Tauzin’s legislation passing is suspect because of unresolved funding, privacy and logistical issues.
But given the direction the Rock Creek antenna-siting issue is taking, that could change.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the senior minority member of the subcommittee, has made the Rock Creek Park siting issue a litmus test for gauging the Park Service’s willingness to cooperate with the wireless industry.
Neither Markey nor Tauzin could not be reached for comment.
“They (the applications) were incomplete,” said Kittleman, a spokesman for the National Park Service. He said a decision on whether the application resubmitted last week by BAM now is complete could come this week.
A 1995 executive order signed by President Clinton and codified in the 1996 telecom law requires federal agencies to make property available to companies seeking to build wireless transmission facilities.
But the park service also is bound by other laws requiring it to preserve the scenic beauty of national parks and protect their historical and cultural integrity.
“By our own rules, we want to make known to the public accurately what is being proposed,” said Kittleman. “Without answers to questions we can’t proceed. We cannot do this on verbal assurances.”
Under a December memorandum of Park Service Director Robert Stanton, siting applications are supposed to be acted on in 60 days, during which time the public is invited to comment. But the 60 days does not begin until an application is deemed complete.
The wireless industry contends the National Park Service is dragging its feet.
“It is a tragedy when the safety of users takes second place to the demands of bureaucrats,” said Thomas Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
Indeed, city joggers are speaking out.
“Recently, there have been several attacks on women runners and bicyclists of both sexes in Rock Creek Park. With little or no cell phone communication possible because of no antenna, those women or folks trying to call for help for them could not have gotten through,” Henley Gabeau, executive director of the Road Runners Club of America, wrote to NSP Regional Director Terry Carlstrom in a Sept. 29 letter.
Gabeau said police also have had trouble with radio communications in Rock Creek Park.
Maureen Kane, manager of site acquisition for Bell Atlantic Mobile, and Mike Maus, director of real estate, conceded that certain questions on the siting application were answered insufficiently.
“We knew some answers were going to be less answered than others,” said Kane.
But she said there is a good explanation for that. Kane said BAM itself needs site specific information that only the park service can supply once it reviews the application.
Kane said another complication is BAM is considering antenna-siting collocation with Cellular One, whose application was returned and has not been resubmitted yet.
BAM complained, and Kittleman confirmed, that the park service will not allow the carriers to fly balloons to the height of prospective towers in the park to get an idea of the visual impact.
