State Approves Tower

For Edmond Road

By Andrew Gorosko

The Connecticut Siting Council has approved a telecommunications firm’s proposal to erect a cellular telephony tower in an industrial area off Edmond Road, near Interstate 84.

At a December 22 session, the council approved Omnipoint Facilities Network-2, LLC’s proposal to build a tower at 3 Edmond Road, but reduced the height of the steel monopole-style tower from the requested 150 feet to 130 feet. Omnipoint is a subsidiary of T-Mobile, USA, Inc.

In approving the application, the council issued Omnipoint a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need for the construction, maintenance, and operation of a wireless telecommunications facility including a tower, its attached antennas, and adjacent electronics sheds, all of which will be contained within security fencing.

The council’s tower approval follows an almost yearlong review process, during which Omnipoint’s initial controversial proposal to construct a tower on the opposite side of I-84 at 79 Church Hill Road, near the residential Walnut Tree Hill Road, drew heavy opposition from nearby residents. Telecommunications firms often encounter stiff opposition when seeking to construct towers in residential areas.

Walnut Tree Hill Road residents Julia Nable and Zoltan Csillag, who intervened in the tower application, organized a petition drive that sought to keep telecommunications towers out of the Walnut Tree Hill Road area. They collected more than 700 petition signatures.

Ms Nable said December 30, “We’re really pleased…We learned that you have to fight for something if you believe in it…We’re really relieved.”

Initially, town officials had told her that cellular telephone tower construction applications are a matter for state review and lie out of the town’s bailiwick, Ms Nable said.

But her persistence paid off, she said, noting that her and Mr Csillag’s efforts resulted in the town eventually endorsing their position in urging the siting council to approve a 130-foot-tall tower at the industrial 3 Edmond Road site.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said December 29 he is glad the tower will not be constructed at 79 Church Hill Road, near a residential area. Towers should be located in a commercial/industrial area such as Edmond Road, he said. “I’m pleased with the decision,” the first selectman said. The town intervened in the tower application.

Omipoint was willing to compromise on the location of a tower, Mr Rosenthal noted, adding that the firm eventually agreed that 3 Edmond Road was a suitable place to build a tower.

“I think the neighbors ought to be happy,” Mr Rosenthal said of Walnut Tree Hill Road area residents’ concerns about having a tower at 79 Church Hill Road.

In October, at a siting council public hearing on the tower proposal, attorney Monte Frank, representing the town, spoke in favor of a 130-foot-tall tower at 3 Edmond Road.

That site is on the west side of Edmond Road, several hundred yards south of the Rand-Whitney Container factory. Omnipoint would rent space at 3 Edmond Road from property owners Reid and Harriet Edwards. The tower would be built about 120 feet west of Edmond Road. Edmond Road is a private road.

The siting council approved tower construction for the placement of antennas by T-Mobile and by AT&T Wireless PCS, LLC, which does business as AT&T Wireless, plus other private and public entities. The tower owner would rent out antenna space to other telecommunications firms. The tower owner is required to offer free antenna space on the tower to the town, provided that such space is available and provided that the town’s antennas are compatible with the tower’s design.

In ruling on the tower application, the siting council found the 3 Edmond Road site preferable to the 79 Church Hill Road for a variety of reasons.

According to the council, a tower built at 79 Church Hill Road would be visible from a greater amount of area roads, residential areas, a school, a 7,000-foot-long section of I-84, and from the Main Street flagpole area of the Newtown Borough Historic District. A tower at 3 Edmond Road would be primarily visible from commercial and industrial areas, and from a 1,500-foot-long section of I-84. Also, a tower at 3 Edmond Road is not expected to be visible from residential areas or from the historic district.

The siting council ruled that the 3 Edmond Road site is preferable because it has industrial zoning, it abuts industrially zoned property, and is relatively remote from residences.

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.