The Rochester town board is reviewing a request from the Ulster County Planning Department to consider building a public safety radio tower beside an existing tower along Route 209. The tower would fill what the county described as “significant gaps” in broadcast coverage for emergency first responders.

County Planning Director Dennis Doyle presented the project, now in the “feasibility stage,” to the board on Thursday evening.

“We’re not proposing to build this - we’re proposing to take another hard look at it,” he said.

According to Doyle, the county has conducted studies over the past few years to identify areas where first responders’ communication equipment goes “blank.” The planning department found one gap stretching along 209 from around Accord to Kerhonkson and proposes to update coverage for the area by switching from an analog system to a simulcast system that would cover a wider region by broadcasting from multiple transmitter sites.

The county has already built a new tower in Saugerties, and Doyle said it is in talks to put in towers in Shandaken, Phoenicia, and Rosendale.

The proposed Rochester tower would be constructed on the same site as the American Tower at 6140 Rt. 209 in Kerhonkson. In addition to the tower itself, the county would install an equipment shelter and a generator.

As a county project, the proposal would more or less bypass some of the town’s regular procedures. Instead of a State Environmental Quality Review, the town would conduct a vaguer “balance of public interest test” to give the project a go ahead. However, Doyle said the department would do a viewshed analysis, photo stimulations of the project, historic and archaeological reports, and a geotechnical analysis, in accordance with county planning board and NYSDEC guidelines.

Doyle added that the county would submit the reports to the planning board and work directly with them in discussing the project. The town would also hold a public hearing on the project.

The board agreed to confer with the town attorney before making any decisions regarding the presentation.

At Thursday's meeting, the board also heard a presentation from conservation consultant Greenplan about adopting a “Community Preservation Plan” that would fund open space preservations. The Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act funds preservation projects by setting a real estate transfer tax of up to 2% on new home sales paid by homebuyers.

According to Greenplan founder Ted Fink, the act has funded the preservation of approximately 5000 acres in Warwick and 4000 acres in Red Hook. To put the act in motion, Fink said the town of Rochester would have to pass three local laws adopting the plan, appointing an advisory board, and establishing the transfer tax.

On Thursday evening, the board also approved Local Law 3 of 2024, which sets guidelines on where, when, and how cannabis dispensaries may operate.