➤ OUR ZONING LAWS LEAVE US UNPREPARED. THEY MUST BE UPDATED ASAP.

1.  In July 2025 our Claverack Town Supervisor confirmed that a wireless provider wants to put up a new cell tower within the Town of Claverack. Philmont lies within the town and could also be negatively impacted by the additional radiation. We need to have more say.

2.  Municipalities HAVE powers and authority at the local, state and federal level to regulate these installations. AmericansforResponsibleTechnology.org  gives short introductions on what we can and must do: see TOOLBOX then MUNICIPAL CODES.

3.  In 1999, Claverack's Town Board wisely passed 11 pages of zoning for telecommunications towers.* But this zoning is outdated: towers could go up maybe only 150 feet away from residences and schools - FAR TOO CLOSE.  And  'small cell' 5G poles and antennas could go up everywhere. (SAFE, FAR FASTER, RELIABLE and SECURE fiber optic broadband is rolling out here - for phones, too. Let's use it.)

4.  Philmont’s Village Board has passed NO zoning for telecommunications towers.** Claverack's zoning doesn't apply to Philmont.

5.  Cell tower and 'small cell' 5G antenna radiation  is a serious issue for us and for the animals (bees!) and plants that share our community. The biological harm of these wireless radiations is now widely verified. The number of people suffering Electromagnetic Radiation Syndrome, EMR-S, is rising. And people don’t want to live near a tower or 'small cell' pole, therefore property values drop.

IN ADDITION:

7. The Federal Communications Commission, FCC, is under order by the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, since August 13, 2021. The FCC must bring its radio-frequency (RF/EMF wireless) emissions standards up-to-date with the known harms of this radiation on living beings. The FCC has not yet answered this Court Order. No new installations should occur until it complies.

WHAT EACH OF US AS RESIDENTS IN CLAVERACK OR PHILMONT NEEDS TO DO:    

➤ Tell the Town and Village Boards you want the zoning updated NOW: 

• Claverack Town Board meeting is 2nd Thursday of the month in the old library building next to the new Claverack Library. To speak, just sign the clipboard. Comments are limited to 3 minutes.

• Philmont Village Board meeting is 2nd Monday of the month at the Village Hall, 124 Main St., Philmont. To speak for 5 minutes, you must call or email the clerk by noon the Friday before: 518-672-7032, clerk@philmont.org. The comments are PROMPTLY at the start of the meeting.

➤ Sign the petition asking the Town and Village Boards to enact a temporary 12-month moratorium on applications for all tower, small cell and other wireless installations. Towers and poles that impact Philmont will impact Claverack, too, and vice versa.

➤ Spread the word, help gather signatures, share the QR code.

*ClaverackZoningLaw2015FINAL09222015v2.pdf. The Section on Telecommunications Structures is "15.3.24," pp. 118-128.  

**Philmont Local Laws: https://philmont.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/philmont-locallaws.pdf; see Section 160, p. 145ff.

THE PETITION  The moratorium petition in hardcopy/pdf lays out the legal, state and federal authority that we have, as well as about the FCC's unanswered court order. ClaverackNYPetition.pdf and PhilmontNYPetition.pdf.   (The two versions of the petition text are exactly the same except for the local law paragraph.) 

THEREFORE, we the undersigned, do petition the Town Board of Claverack and the Philmont Board of Trustees to immediately enact a twelve-month moratorium on the review and approval of applications for wireless telecommunications facilities and modifications, including RF transmitting/receiving facilities, small cell/5G installations, pending amendment of the municipal zoning law to regulate these and pending the FCC's new emissions standards that were ordered by U.S. Federal Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, August 13, 2021.