New Freedom smokestack coming down
An old factory smokestack will be coming down in New Freedom, PA.
The New Freedom Borough Council in June approved a land development plan for a communication tower to be located in the New Freedom Business Park along High Street.
The cellular phone tower will be built for Shentel, which is part of the Shenandoah Mobile Company of Edinburg, Va.
Michael Knotwell, site acquisition specialist for Shentel, told the council last month that the owners of the industrial park want the smokestack removed before the tower is built. Originally, the smokestack was to remain standing and the communications tower was to be built next to it.
"The owners are insisting it come down. At some point it would have to come down anyway and this way they can get someone else to take it down for them," Knotwell said.
Council member Jeff Blum said the police have had problems with kids hanging around the smokestack in the past and would probably be glad to see it removed before someone gets injured.
Council president Brady Terrell said the council discussed removal of the smokestack but decided not to make it a condition for approval of the cell tower. The work will require a demolition permit from the borough, he said.
Knotwell said the smokestack would be removed, starting at the top, and the bricks would be dropped down inside and then cleaned out as the loose bricks built up.
The council in June approved the 190-foot monopole communications tower to be built near a brick smokestack in the business park. The area is zoned 'light industrial' and a communications tower is a use by right in that zone, and does not require a variance or special exception.
Shentel will lease a 75-by-75 foot lot in the industrial park that will be surrounded by an 8-foot fence. Work should be completed by the end of summer, Knotwell said.
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