RAY BROOK -- Commissioners at the Adirondack Park Agency approved another 100-foot cellular tower to be built in the Interstate 87 corridor.

At their regular meeting Thursday, commissioners learned the tower is designed to fit four carriers on the same site.

"This is the first tower proposed for several telecommunication companies in the first instance," said Regulatory Planner Skip Outcalt.

"It will provide excellent coverage north and south and east along the Northway."

EXITS 32 TO 33

It will reach nearly seven miles between Exits 32 and 33 in an area currently without cell service, just south of Poke-o-Moonshine, a popular hiking, climbing and camping area.

Proposed jointly by Independent Towers LLC and RCA Atlantic Inc., which operates Unicel, the four-panel monopole is sited below Taylor Mountain in the Town of Lewis on private property owned by Dennis Mitchell.

The area is zoned Rural Use on the Adirondack Park map.

Besides Unicel, T-Mobile is interested in co-location at the site, Outcalt said.

And since Unicel has roaming agreements with AT&T/Cingular, the tower will support several additional phone services.

Essex County Emergency Services also has interest in leasing space on the tower, Outcalt said.

WORKING TOGETHER

Richard Booth, an environmental planning professor at Cornell University, asked if co-location is going to happen on this tower because of the way the project was designed.

Outcalt said yes, that some technology uses wavelengths that travel better through foliage.

The top three panel arrays would get about the same coverage on the new Taylor Mountain tower.