State Slates Cell Tower Hearing For Late May

By Andrew Gorosko

The state has scheduled a public hearing for May 28 on a firm’s proposal to build a freestanding 150-foot-tall, monopole-style cellular telecommunications tower on private property at 24 Dinglebrook Lane.

S. Derek Phelps, executive director of the Connecticut Siting Council, said this week that the council plans to conduct a field review of the of the site at 24 Dinglebrook Lane at 2 pm on May 28. At that time, a tethered helium balloon will be flown at the site to indicate how tall the tower would stand in relation to its surroundings.

Also, from 3 to 5 pm on May 28, the council will hold the evidentiary portion of the public hearing in the Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall at 45 Main Street. At that session, the applicant and others will enter evidence for review by the council.

The public comment portion of the hearing is scheduled to start at 7 pm in the same location.

Any additional hearings on the application would be held at the council’s offices in New Britain.

Some residents living near the site proposed for the tower have said they do not want the facility in their residential area and have vowed to oppose the project proposed by AT&T.

Objections focus on the prospect of decreased property values in the residential area near a cell tower, the appearance of a tower, plus concerns about the possible adverse health effects posed by the microwave radiation handled by antennas mounted on a tower.

AT&T, doing business as New Cingular Wireless, PCS, LLC, has filed the application for the proposed tower and related electronic equipment with the siting council.

People interested in reviewing the cell tower application may do so on the council’s website on the Internet. The application’s docket number is 376. The Internet address for the application is www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/pendingproceeds/docket_376/376state_of_connecticut.pdf.

AT&T is seeking a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need from the siting council for the construction and maintenance of the proposed telecommunications facility.

In its application to the siting council, AT&T states that a “gap in [telecommunications] service exists in the northern portion of the Town of Newtown and eastern Brookfield along Dinglebrook Lane, Obtuse Rocks Road, State Route 133, and surrounding areas.” The antennas positioned on the proposed tower would provide cellular service at nearby Lake Lillinonah, as well as to surrounding areas in Newtown and Brookfield, according to AT&T. The site is near the Brookfield town line.

AT&T proposes leasing a 7,000-square-foot area at an approximately 25-acre site at 24 Dinglebrook Lane that is owned by the estate of Paul R. Lundgren. A 150-foot-tall metallic tower, which would hold racks for radio antennas, would be constructed there. The site lies generally east of Driftway Drive. That general area holds single-family houses and undeveloped land.

A 3,750-square-foot compound surrounded by a chain-link fence would enclose a 230-square-foot radio equipment structure and the tower.

The average height of the tree canopy in the area proposed for the tower is about 75 feet, according to AT&T.

AT&T would install up to 12 antennas on the tower and might have other telecommunications companies locate their antennas on its tower.