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AT&T Plans Cell Tower in WindsorBy Noah Hoffenberg
iBerkshires Correspondent
05:57PM / Saturday, March 14, 2009
 Photo by Kirsten Lewis |
WINDSOR, Mass. — AT&T is seeking permission to build a wireless telecommunications tower on Shaw Road, a proposal that will require a special permit to proceed.
The Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing on the project March 31 at Town Hall at 7 p.m.
AT&T wants to construct a 160-foot tower at 520 Shaw Road on land owned by Patricia Boynton. The exact site is 720 feet into the woods on north side of Shaw Road. The tower will rise above the treeline by 75 feet.
A balloon test was conducted last weekend on the proposed site to gauge the visibility of the tower, and Robert Bradley, ZBA chairman, said it could not be seen from Route 9 or Notchview, one of the higher elevations in town.
Ideally, findings from an independent consultant on the project will be ready and posted at the Town Offices prior to the meeting, Bradley said. The consultant, Mark Hutchins of Brattleboro, Vt., a is radio engineer with extensive experience in representing numerous towns in the commonwealth and Vermont on cell tower projects, said Bradley.
"The purpose is for him to review the application to check the if data is accurate," said Bradley. Hutchins was hired at AT&T's expense, as is required by law, Bradley said.
If the report isn't ready to be posted before the meeting, Bradley said he will read the results himself for the record at the hearing. Barring any major problems with AT&T's application, the project will likely be greenlighted by the board.
"There's a great deal of technical material in that application. Issues were raised whether or not we need an environmental impact study. They don't, unless there's some evidence of something on that site that required further investigation," said Bradley. "We have a bylaw, and if anybody meets the requirements of the bylaw, they pretty much have the right to build a cell tower."
In addition to a permit to build, AT&T is seeking a variance to allow for construction that lies outside the rules specified in the bylaw.
The bylaw states that cell tower footprints are not to exceed 25 feet by 25 feet. AT&T, said Bradley, wants a 50-foot-by-50-foot footprint, to make room for other wireless companies that might want to place its
antennas on the tower and outbuildings on the site in the future.
Having that extra space is a requirement of the Federal Communications Commission to keep the number of towers in a given area to a minimum.
"Because AT&T's building is 20 feet by 11 1/2 feet, it wouldn't leave much room for other buildings on the footprint," said Bradley.
The second variance is for the height of AT&T's fence that surroundsvthe tower and outbuilding. Town bylaw requires a fence not higher than 6 feet, but AT&T would prefer an 8-foot fence for greater security, Bradley said.
The ZBA first discussed the project on Feb. 4, a meeting for which all abutters had been notified and invited. Bradley said about half came. He said some residents raised concerns that the location of an auxiliary generator was too close to homes and should be moved to the north side of the Boynton property. Another resident was concerned that the application was too vague.
Bradley said the consultant would key in on any problems with the application, and that to pick a fight in Superior Court over FCC mandates wouldn't be a wise endeavor.
The board met again on Feb. 26 to talk over and appoint a consultant to review the project independently, and the public will have another chance on March 31 to review the project and ask question or raise concerns.
As for wireless phone service in Windsor, in Bradley's personal opinion it is "horrible." Bradley, a former state police captain, said having such weak cell service was a public safety issue.
"This is part of the plan to expand cell service throughout Berkshire County. [AT&T is] applying for a tower in Savoy, Cheshire and an antenna on state-owned tower in Peru," he said. Having a tower in Windsor "would give you cell service down into parts of Cummington on Route 9," and help cover a large swath in the aforementioned towns.
Right now, Windsor's cell reception is spotty except for near the town center. Martin R. Cohen, an attorney from Anderson & Krieger LLP in Cambridge, representing AT&T's interests, could not be reached for comment.
On Anderson & Krieger's Web site, the firm says it has advised in more than 1,000 telecommunications projects in hundreds of communities. The firm's lawyers, it says, "have guided many controversial sites through local, state and federal historic reviews and obtained numerous 'no adverse effect' findings." |
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