What's This?

Local residents were surprised to see a huge new communications tower looming over the new police headquarters under construction at the corner of Fenimore and Post Roads.

If the new Safety Headquarters wasn’t imposing enough, the addition of a four to five story tower, capped with an American flag makes the new construction seem even more massive. The new building is taller than the former headquarters and extends closer to both Fenimore and Post Roads, giving an impression of increased bulk.

Members of the Greenacres Association were given a chance to review the building plans a few years back, but no one in the group remembers a communications tower in the renderings. From what we could learn, the tower was originally supposed to be on Fenimore Road rather than Post Road but may have been moved to improve the signal for radio transmission for both the police and fire departments.

So now Greenacres homeowners have two towers in their midst – the blue light from the Ritz Carlton in White Plains and the communications tower at Safety Headquarters. An inquiry to Village Hall about the tower received no response.

Update: June 1:

Paul Zaicek, Director of Captial Projects for the Village of Scarsdale sent in the following response:

"The new Public Safety Building radio tower replaces the old tower that was removed at the beginning of the project to make room for the expansion of the south side of the building. The old radio tower was 100 ft tall and the new tower is 110 ft. tall. The new tower is taller because the site drops approximately 10 ft. from the old location to the new location therefore to maintain the same top of tower elevation the new tower had to be 10 ft. taller. The elevation that the new radio antennas are to be mounted gives the Village Fire and Police radio systems the best coverage and are at the same elevation they were mounted previously."

"The new radio tower was always part of the project and was included in all the renderings. At the beginning of the planning phase the plans and renderings showed the new tower along the west side of the site (same side the old tower was located). The Village received feedback from residents at multiple municipal meetings that the proposed tower location was too obtrusive to the adjacent neighborhood and needed to be moved. After hearing the residents comments the Village and Village Architect took another look at it and decided to move the tower to the east side of the site so it would have less of a visual impact to the adjacent neighborhood. The renderings were modified to show the new tower location prior to receiving authorization from the Village Board of Trustees to advertise for the receipt of construction bids. The tower is a permanent structure."

Another notable sight: A spray painted sign that reads “New Beginnings 2011” was found leaning on a tree in front of the house at the Duck Pond. The home is soon to be demolished to make way for a new house on the property. The meaning of the sign is unknown. Is New Beginnings the name of the construction company that will handle the job or is this simply a philosophical statement of what’s to come at 1 Duck Pond Road?