Both Verizon towers are listed for a public hearing Tuesday
Webster's Zoning Board of Appeals meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday with eight applications on the agenda. Each Verizon tower application asks for an area variance from the town's 100-foot height limit, and Waterview Apartments Phase 3 is listed for a fourth straight meeting.
Both of Verizon's proposed Webster cell towers are on the Zoning Board of Appeals agenda Tuesday night, each asking for an area variance from the 100-foot maximum height the town code sets for a communication tower.
The board meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Town Board Room at 1002 Ridge Road. The agenda is a legal notice that the board "will conduct a public hearing" on eight applications. Approval of the Aug. 11 minutes is the only other item.
Waterview Apartments Phase 3 is on the agenda for a fourth straight meeting. The other five items are requests on residential properties.
The two towers
The agenda names Robert Burgdorf as the applicant on both, for Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems d/b/a Verizon.
The Lake Road tower would go at Lake Road and County Line Road, on a 7.8-acre parcel in the LL Large-Lot Residential District. The agenda describes a communication tower of 125 feet with a four-foot lightning rod, 129 feet overall, where the maximum height allowed is 100 feet. That listing cites Sections 130-10 and 350-13 of the town code.
The Webster North tower would go near 1222 Wildflower Drive, on a 14.2-acre parcel in the R-3 Single-Family Residential District. The agenda describes a tower of 135 feet with a four-foot lightning rod, 139 feet overall, against the same 100-foot maximum. That listing cites Sections 130-10 and 350-12.
The Lake Road tower has been before the Zoning Board of Appeals before. It was on the board's agenda in March and again in April, and was tabled both times. The Wildflower Drive tower has not been on a zoning board agenda at any meeting in the town's posted record since September 2025.
Tuesday's agenda lists both tower applications among its tabled matters, under the same public hearing notice as the rest of the meeting. At the Planning Board's Sept. 1 meeting, the board was told Verizon is on this week's zoning board agenda for a preliminary introduction of the Wildflower Drive project.
The Planning Board tabled both tower applications to Oct. 6 that night, on 5-1 votes. The Planning Board left the Lake Road public hearing open, so residents can still speak on that application. The Ledger's recap of the Sept. 1 meeting has the votes and the discussion.
Waterview Apartments Phase 3
Waterview Apartments Phase 3 is the first of the three items the agenda lists under tabled matters. Legacy Development Co. is asking for two area variances at the northwest corner of Willow Point Way and Nautical Mile Drive. One would allow a front setback of 18.7 feet where 75 feet is required. The other would allow a single-family district buffer of 38.5 feet where 100 feet is required.
The application covers six buildings plus a community center, 56 units in all, on a proposed 13.15-acre parcel. Each building would be two stories. The site is in the MHR Medium High Residential District, and the agenda cites Section 350-14.
The June 9 agenda carried a note tabling the application to July 14. The July 14 minutes record it tabled to the Aug. 11 meeting. The Aug. 11 agenda carried a note tabling it to the September meeting. The Ledger covered the board's June 9, July 14 and Aug. 11 meetings. The Ledger's account of the July 14 meeting records neighbors along McEwen Drive opposing the application.
Five residential requests
Four of the five ask for area variances. The fifth asks for a special use permit. The Ledger is not naming the applicants on those five items.
Item 4 requests a side yard setback of 12 feet where 15 feet is required, for a new garage at 1725 State Road on a 0.68-acre parcel.
Item 5 requests a front setback of 49.2 feet where 60 feet is required on a corner lot, for a garage addition at 539 Countryside Lane.
Item 6 requests a rear setback of 43 feet where 50 feet is required, for a covered porch at 522 Hackberry Way.
Item 7 requests a special use permit for a 6-by-9-foot chicken coop and no more than eight hens at 1054 Klem Road, on a 2.2-acre parcel. The Ledger has an explainer on how Webster's backyard chicken permit works.
Item 8 requests an area variance to allow the alteration or extension of a pre-existing non-conforming single-family home at 400 Lake Road, for a 460-square-foot addition. That address is a separate property from the tower site at Lake Road and County Line Road.
How to be heard
The public can speak on any of the eight applications at the hearing. The hearing is at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Town Board Room at 1002 Ridge Road. The Ledger's guide to the Zoning Board of Appeals explains how to take part. Chairman Michael Short opened the board's May 12 meeting with a reminder, according to the minutes:
public discussion is going to be limited to five minutes per person per application. And discussion must pertain to the property being reviewed.
The board's July 14 minutes record the same five-minute limit.
The board is also scheduled Tuesday to approve the minutes of its Aug. 11 meeting, which the town had not posted when the Ledger checked Monday.
The next Zoning Board of Appeals meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 13.
Previously in the Ledger: How Webster reviews a cell tower application (Sept. 2) covers the 100-foot cap, the preference for sharing an existing tower and the limits federal law places on what a board may weigh. The Ledger's Sept. 1 preview of the Planning Board hearings covers both applications, the parcels and the town's own radio-frequency reviews.
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