Edmond Road Site Sought For Telecom Tower

By Andrew Gorosko

NEW BRITAIN –– A telecommunications firm is urging the Connecticut Siting Council to approve its proposal for construction of a cellular telephony tower in an industrial area off Edmond Road, instead of in a residential area off Church Hill Road, as it had proposed earlier this year.

At an October 23 siting council public hearing, applicant Omnipoint Facilities Network-2, LLC, requested that it be allowed to erect a 150-foot-tall steel, monopole-style tower for use as an antenna mast at 3 Edmond Road. The site is on the west side of Edmond Road, several hundred yards south of the Rand-Whitney Container factory. Omnipoint is a subsidiary of T-Mobile, USA, Inc.

Omnipoint would rent space at 3 Edmond Road for a tower and an adjacent electronic equipment shed from property owner James Edwards. 

The October 23 siting council session, held at the council offices in New Britain, was a continuation of a public hearing, which the council opened last May 1 in Newtown. The council took no action on Omnipoint’s construction proposal. A decision on the tower application is expected by early next year.

Last spring, Omnipoint initially had proposed building a tower at one of two locations on a parcel at 79 Church Hill Road. That plan, however, drew heavy opposition from Walnut Tree Hill Road area residents, who objected to having a tower located in that residential area. More than 700 people signed a petition in opposition to tower on the Church Hill Road site. Telecommunications firms often encounter stiff opposition when seeking to construct towers in residential areas.

Last spring, at 79 Church Hill Road, Omnipoint had proposed as a “prime” tower site an area lying north of westbound I-84’s Exit 10 on-ramp. That spot lies 530 feet west of Walnut Tree Hill Road, 800 feet northwest of Church Hill Road, and 1,100 feet south of Evergreen Road.

Also, last spring, Omnipoint had proposed an “alternate” tower location, which was situated at a higher elevation at 79 Church Hill Road, behind residential properties lying off the south side of Evergreen Road. That alternate location was 900 feet to the north of the prime site. The alternate site was 300 feet south of Evergreen Road, 367 feet west of Walnut Tree Hill Road, and 1,600 feet northwest of Church Hill Road. Norwalk developer Carmine Renzulli owns 79 Church Hill Road.

At the October 23 public hearing, Omnipoint representatives stressed that the firm no longer is interested in building a tower at the former proposed “alternate” location near Evergreen Road.

Also, Ominpoint’s agents explained that following the May 1 public hearing, they considered, but later opted against, seeking to build a tower at 1 Edmond Road. That property is on the east side of Edmond Road, near Edmond Road’s intersection with Schoolhouse Hill Road. That property is owned by Rand-Whitney. Omnipoint did not reach a land usage agreement with Rand-Whitney for that site.

At the siting council hearing, attorney Stephen J. Humes, representing Omnipoint, initially said that the firm wanted the siting council to continue considering both the 3 Edmond Road site, and also the site at 79 Church Hill Road, which lies near the I-84 Exit 10 ramp, as potential locations for a telecommunications tower.

At the close of the session, however, Mr Humes, urged that the council approve tower construction at 3 Edmond Road. That street is a private road.

“[The property at] 3 Edmond Road is a better choice, and we urge the council to approve the 3 Edmond Road site [with] a 150-foot [tower] height,” Mr Humes told the council.

Through its tower application, Omnipoint is seeking a “certificate of environmental compatibility and public need” from the siting council.

Technical Matters

Much discussion at the hearing concerned the radio frequency propagation characteristics of radiotelephone antennas mounted on towers, based on the height of those antennas on the towers. Generally, the higher an antenna array is mounted, the broader the coverage that it will provide to cellular telephone users.

Multiple telecommunications carriers typically mount their antennas on a tower. Four different telecommunications firms potentially would mount their antennas on the proposed Omnipoint tower. By comparison, the telecommunications tower that is located near Exit 11 of I-84 has six antenna arrays mounted on it.

Telecommuncations towers are often located alongside interstate highways where many cellular telephone users are traveling and using their telephones.

Siting council officials asked Omnipoint representatives whether erecting a 130-foot-tall tower would be sufficient to provide adequate telecommunications coverage in the area.

Omnipoint’s agents repeatedly responded that a 150-foot-tall tower would provide more reliable cellular telephone coverage.

In reviewing tower applications, the siting council sometimes approves towers that are shorter than an applicant has requested. In June 2002, when the siting council approved telecommunications tower construction at 151 Berkshire Road in Sandy Hook, it endorsed constructing a 120-foot-tall tower, not the 150-foot-tall tower that was requested by the applicant.

Adjustments

The tower complex now proposed by Omnipoint at 3 Edmond Road would lie 119 feet to the west of Edmond Road. Last May, the firm had proposed building a tower that would lie 350 feet west of the road.

The location, which is 119 feet from Edmond Road and on upland soil, would result in less wetlands disturbance than the other site farther from the road. Approximately 300 square feet of wetlands would be disturbed at the site nearer Edmond Road. The fenced compound where a tower and related structures would be built would cover approximately 2,500 square feet.

By building a tower nearer to Edmond Road than previously proposed, the project would involve only one wetland crossing, rather than two wetland crossings, Mr Humes said. Wetlands protection measures would be taken during construction.

Omnipoint shifted the proposed location of a tower on the 3 Edmond Road site based on comments made by the Newtown Conservation Commission, which serves as the town’s wetlands agency.

 

Intervenors

The Town of Newtown is an intervenor in Omnipoint’s tower application. Earlier this year, following public opposition to building a tower at 79 Church Hill Road, the town entered the tower application process as an intervenor, urging Omnipoint to find an industrial setting, such as Edmond Road, for a tower.

Under questioning by attorney Monte Frank, representing the town, Omnipoint representatives said that the house that is the closest to a tower at 3 Edmond Road would lie more than 1,000 feet away. By comparison, the closest residence to the proposed tower site near Exit 10 of I-84 at the 79 Church Hill Road site would be about 600 feet away.

 Mr Frank questioned whether Omnipoint actually needs a 150-foot-tall tower, rather than a somewhat shorter structure. The height of telecommunications towers often becomes a public issue based on aesthetics.

Walnut Tree Hill Road residents Julia Nable and Zoltan Csillag also are intervenors in the application. They organized the petition drive that seeks to keep telecommunications towers out of the Walnut Tree Hill Road area. 

Attorney Steven Smart, representing Ms Nable and Mr Csillag, asked whether Omnipoint dropped the proposal to build a tower at 1 Edmond Road for financial reasons. Omnipoint representatives denied there were such reasons involved.

Pamela B. Katz, the siting council chairman, ruled that because the site at 1 Edmond Road site is no longer under consideration, the reason for its withdrawal is not relevant to the pending application.

Mr Smart asked whether Omnipoint had performed a study concerning safety aspects of constructing a telecommunications tower near a natural gas transmission pipeline at 79 Church Hill Road.

In response, Omnipoint agents said that no such safety study had been done, but added that the firm has built towers near such gas pipelines in other areas.

AT&T Wireless also is an intervenor in the Omnipoint tower application. AT&T would locate antennas on an Omnipoint tower.

An AT&T representative told siting council members that a tower located at 79 Church Hill Road would provide slightly better cellular telephone coverage for that firm, but added that either the Church Hill Road site or the 3 Edmond Road site would be an acceptable location for a tower.

In the past, the Newtown’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) reviewed and ruled on such telecommunications tower construction applications, based on an elaborate set of tower regulations that were created by Newtown’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z). A court decision, however, shifted the jurisdiction over tower construction proposals to the Connecticut Siting Council.