Hearing On Proposed Cell Tower Slated For March 27

By Andrew Gorosko

The Connecticut Siting Council has scheduled a public hearing for March 27 on a controversial proposal to construct a 150-foot-tall wireless telecommunications tower on land off Walnut Tree Hill Road, near Exit 10 of Interstate 84.

Omnipoint Facilities Network-2, LLC, a subsidiary of T-Mobile, USA, Inc, of Stamford proposes the construction of a 150-foot-tall monopole-style, steel tower on property at 79 Church Hill Road. The wooded, hilly 35-acre parcel lies within the area bounded by Church Hill Road on the south, Walnut Tree Hill Road on the east, Evergreen Road on the north, and I-84 on the west. The parcel has 20 abutting properties. Multiple antenna arrays would be mounted atop the proposed tower for cellular telephone communications along the heavily traveled I-84 corridor.

The siting council has scheduled a public hearing on the tower construction proposal for Thursday, March 27, in the Alexandria Room in Edmond Town Hall at 45 Main Street.

The hearing will consist of two sessions. From 3 to 5 pm, the applicant will present its proposal for tower construction, after which siting council members and intervenors will ask questions. A two-hour dinner break will follow. Starting at 7 pm, the council will listen to comments from the general public on the application.

The council is slated to hold a public field review at the site at 2 pm that day. Weather permitting, helium balloons would be lofted indicating how tall a tower would stand.  

Walnut Tree Hill Road area residents who are upset at the prospect of a 150-foot-tall tower in their neighborhood have been organizing to oppose the project.

Julia Nable of 10 Walnut Tree Hill Road has been contacting neighbors to rally opposition. Ms Nable said March 17 she has collected more than 640 petition signatures from town residents who oppose the proposal. 

The petition states: We, the residents of Newtown and Sandy Hook, are in opposition to a cellular telecommunications tower/facility to be built in the residential neighborhood of Walnut Tree Hill Road.

In a leaflet distributed to Walnut Tree Hill Road area residents recently, Ms Nable and Zoltan Csillag list reasons why a tower should not be built in that area.

The presence of such towers poses the potential for health and safety problems due to electromagnetic radiation exposure, they state. Research is underway to study potential health risks, they note, adding that such telecommunications facilities have not been in use long enough for conclusive research results to appear.

“A huge metal tower would loom on our immediate sight lines on Walnut Tree Hill Road, Evergreen Road, Church Hill Road, and all surrounding roads,” they add.

“Property values can be affected negatively by 25 percent or more, based on national statistics. A cellular tower in a residential zone would cause undue hardship to nearby property owners. These towers belong in commercial zones or in industrial zones only,” according to the statement.

For its part, Omnipoint maintains there are no environmental conditions on the site that would prevent the construction of the proposed tower. Through its application, the firm is seeking a “certificate of environmental compatibility and public need” from the siting council. Omnipoint states that there is a public need for such a facility, that the project would have no adverse environmental effects, and that it would not substantially affect the scenic quality of the area.

A 150-foot-tall telecommunications tower, which is similar to the one proposed for the Exit 10 area, now stands at the Georgia-Pacific lumberyard at 201 South Main Street.   

Prime and Alternate

Omnipoint proposes both a “prime” tower location, and also an “alternate” tower location at the site off Walnut Tree Hill Road.

Omnipoint’s proposed “prime” tower location lies north of I-84’s Exit 10 westbound on-ramp. That site lies 530 feet west of Walnut Tree Hill Road, 800 feet northwest of Church Hill Road, and 1,100 feet south of Evergreen Road.

Omnipoint’s proposed “alternate” tower location would be at a higher elevation behind residential properties, off the south side of Evergreen Road. The alternate location lies 900 feet to the north of the prime site. The alternate site is 300 feet south of Evergreen Road, 367 feet west of Walnut Tree Hill Road, and 1,600 feet northwest of Church Hill Road.

Omnipoint states that its proposed prime site would “less intrusive” to the area than the alternate site. Building a tower at the alternate site would involve more tree cutting than constructing a facility at the prime site, the firm adds. A tower’s basic effect on the area would be “visual,” according to the firm.

The town contains multiple wireless telecommunications towers. Such freestanding towers often are located in industrial/commercial areas. Tower construction proposals often draw heavy opposition when they are proposed for residential areas.

In the past, the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) reviewed and ruled on such tower construction applications, based on an elaborate set of tower regulations, which were created by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

A court decision, however, shifted the jurisdiction over tower construction proposals to the state siting council. The council would have until mid-July to act on the Omnipoint tower application.