Can you hear me now?

This cell tower by the Falls Village Fire Department on the side of Route 7 is disguised like a tree to better fit in among the rural, forested landscape of the Connecticut's Litchfield hills.
Photo by Caitlin Hanlon
This cell tower by the Falls Village Fire Department on the side of Route 7 is disguised like a tree to better fit in among the rural, forested landscape of the Connecticut's Litchfield hills.
Drivers and residents across Northeast Dutchess County, New York, and Connecticut’s Northwest Corner are well aware of the area’s spotty cell phone coverage.
“Cell phones suck,” Amenia Volunteer Fire Chief Chris Howard said. He echoed the feelings of many residents and visitors to the area who contend with dropped calls and failed text messages on a regular basis.
Spotty cell service is annoying for drivers relying on GPS for directions and it creates problems for Howard and his department. Howard said the truck’s computer-assisted routing uses the T-Mobile network. When trucks have to travel north of the traffic light in the middle of downtown Amenia, their cell service drops out and crews could lose those directions. Usually, Howard said, this isn’t a huge setback for his crew, but that’s not the only challenge emergency responders face because of spotty, slow service.
Hikers hitting the hills often travel through dead zones. The region’s rugged terrain — while scenic and inviting to hikers — hurts coverage. Hills block signals from distant towers, so if hikers have an accident in a remote area they may have trouble getting in touch with emergency services. Howard said Amenia’s rope crew will ask for coordinates, but sometimes the hiker can’t provide good information. “Then they’re hiking blind,” Howard said.
Cell phone tower construction is slow in rural areas across the United States, but several key factors contribute to subpar service in Northeast Dutchess County and the Litchfield Hills. Chief among them are the challenges presented by rugged, undeveloped land. Regions with lots of hills, few people and less power and telecommunications infrastructure are more difficult and costly to service than suburban or urban areas, according to a 2019 New York Upstate Cellular Coverage Task Force report.
John Emra, AT&T’s Atlantic region president, said cell towers require power and fiber optic connections, and many rural sites don’t already have that infrastructure. Another consideration is access. Towers can’t be too remote, otherwise emergency repairs are too difficult. However, they can’t be too close to large groups of people. Often, service roads have to be built to sites on remote ridgelines and hilltops. All this drives up the cost of cell tower construction, and the 2019 cell coverage task force report says the higher cost disincentivizes rural investment.
That report also cites local zoning codes as a potential hurdle for construction, but Emra said regulations don’t completely halt progress. In his 24 years with AT&T, he said rural communities have become increasingly open to cell tower construction and upgrades. Building codes in Northeast Dutchess County and the Litchfield Hills still present unique challenges for cell towers. Special attention is paid to ridgelines and scenic views in the area, so tall towers on high hills are discouraged through local laws. However, cell towers constructed in valleys or on the sides of ridges are less effective, covering much smaller areas because of the hills blocking the signal.
“Even 10 years ago if you proposed a new site — particularly in Litchfield County, Connecticut — you would likely meet some fairly fierce community resistance,” Emra said. “I’ve seen the change where we now have communities asking us to build.” He said AT&T recently finished a project at a site near Stanfordville, New York, and there’s a site near Salisbury, Connecticut, which should be online by the end of the year. Additionally, AT&T has built cell antennas across Dutchess County called “small cell nodes,” which are installed on utility poles but provide coverage over shorter distances than a full-size tower.
Representatives from Verizon did not respond to requests for comment.
Dozens of people crowded into the courthouse at the Washington Town Hall on Reservoir Drive in Millbrook on Tuesday, Oct. 7, to watch a pre-application meeting between Planning Board members and representatives of Centaur Properties LLC. David Blatt and Henry Hay of Centaur Properties LLC described their plan to build an 18-hole golf course with limited membership and residences on the historic 2,000-acre Hitchcock estate.
"This is nothing like Silo Ridge," said Centaur Properties co-founder Henry Hay. "This is Buckingham Palace to a craphouse. It's completely different. It's much higher quality."
MILLBROOK — Dozens of residents of the Town of Washington packed into the courtroom in Town Hall on Reservoir Drive for a standing-room-only regular meeting of the Planning Board on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
Well over three-quarters of the crowd were there to listen in to a pre-application meeting between Planning Board members and representatives of Centaur Properties LLC, a New York City-based development company that’s proposing an 18-hole golf course, equestrian facilities and luxury residential development on the 2,000-acre Hitchcock estate.
A pre-application meeting, Planning Board Chair Susan Meaney explained before beginning the discussion, allows developers or anyone with a potential project to meet with the Planning Board and ask questions about the planning and zoning process prior to submitting an application.
“This is not a public hearing,” Meaney said. “That doesn’t mean that you can’t let your voices be heard. If you have opinions about what gets said here tonight or what the potential proposal might be you can certainly write letters to the Planning Board.”
Henry Hay and David Blatt are the men behind Centaur Properties’ proposal for the Hitchcock estate. Blatt began the discussion by expressing his and Hay’s desire to have an open dialogue with the community.
“It goes without saying this is an incredible piece of property — an incredibly large piece of property,” Blatt said. “It deserves a responsible and thoughtful steward and our hope is that we can bring that level of stewardship that the property deserves and the level of attention to detail and care that this property needs.”
Following was a description of the project centered around an 18-hole golf course that Blatt and Hay said was essential to the development.
“Our ideas on our project are to create a world class golf course, clubhouse — limited membership,” Blatt said.
Additionally, the developers expressed a desire to construct a spa, equestrian facilities, trails, housing and to conserve a portion of the estate.
Planning Board members then began a back-and-forth with the developers, asking the two men for more specific details about their proposal. One of Meaney’s first questions centered around private membership.
“We’re going to have a very, very small membership,” Hay said. “Maybe 300 people.”
That response prompted board member Nicole Drury to clarify if the proposal is more akin to a private golf club or a gated luxury housing development of the likes of the Discovery Land Company’s Silo Ridge Field Club in Amenia — a gated luxury subdivision in Amenia with an 18-hole golf course and other amenities.
“This is nothing like Silo Ridge,” Hay said in response. “This is Buckingham Palace to a craphouse. It’s completely different. It’s much higher quality.”
Later on in the meeting, Planning Board member Eric Alexander again drew comparisons between Centaur’s proposal and the nearby Silo Ridge Field Club in Amenia, which he called a “bad situation for that community.” He cited a perception of exclusivity within the luxury housing development that has put off the surrounding Amenia community.
But Hay wouldn’t elaborate on the distinctions between the Hitchcock estate proposal and Silo Ridge Field Club. "This is nothing like Silo Ridge," Hay maintained. "We don't want that."
Environmental conservation was central to the board members’ concerns, prompting conflicting responses from Blatt and Hay about the amount of open space that will be left after development.
“At least 50%,” Hay said before Blatt cut him off.
“I think 25 to 50% is kind of a good estimate,” Blatt said, correcting his colleague. “We would love to put aside as much as possible.”
The pre-application meeting ended shortly after input from the Planning Board’s attorney, Hannah Atkinson of Van DeWater & Van DeWater out of Poughkeepsie, and Meaney that not much more could be said about the proposal until something concrete has been submitted to the board.
“There’s a code so you can be working within the framework of what’s expected in these different zones,” Atkinson said of the town’s zoning code, and urged the developers to read the code and use it and the town’s comprehensive plan to guide them in designing the project. “You’re not going to be 180 degrees off what the board is expecting if you follow the provisions of the code.”
As of press time, the sale of the Hitchcock estate has not been finalized. The property was listed for sale in Summer 2024 for $75 million.
Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.
STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.
At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.
July transfers
79 Ernest Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 6.87 acres in 2 parcels sold to Matthew C. Marinetti for $1,225,000.
29 Drake Road — 3 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 2 acres sold to Harper Montgomery for $850,000.
6042 Route 82 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 1.09 acres sold to Spencer Thompson for $795,000.
125 Tick Tock Way — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 1.9 acres sold to Fleur Touchard for $475,000.
August transfers
102 Prospect Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 6.35 acres sold to Karl Creighton Pfister for $565,000.
252 Ernest Road — 2 bedroom/1 bath cottage on .85 acres sold to Meg Bumie for $465,000.
1196 Bangall Amenia Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 2.16 acres sold to Roderick Alleyne for $875,000.
Hunns Lake Road (#759929) — 59.1 acres of residential land sold to Argos Farm LLC for $3,325,000.
* Town of Stanford recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to August 31 provided by Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly transfer reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access - properties with an # indicate location on Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks .Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Harlem Valley area activity reportSept. 18 to Sept. 30.
Sept. 23 — Deputies responded to 1542 State Route 292 in the Town of Pawling for the report of a suspicious vehicle at that location. Investigation resulted in the arrest of Sebastian Quiroga, age 26, for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree. Quiroga to appear in the Town of Pawling court at a later date.
Sept. 30 — Deputies responded to Woodside Street in the Town of Pine Plains for a past-occurred verbal domestic dispute between a stepfather and stepson.Matter resolved without further police intervention.
PLEASE NOTE:All subjects arrested and charged are alleged to have committed the crime and are presumed innocent until proven guilty and are to appear in local courts later.
If you have any information relative to the aforementioned criminal cases, or any other suspected criminal activity please contact the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 845-605-CLUE (2583) or Emaildcsotips@gmail.com.All information will be kept confidential.
Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.