Wireless Telecommunications—

AT&T Seeks Cell Tower Off Dinglebrook Lane

By Andrew Gorosko

A cellular telecommunications company is seeking the state approval required to erect a freestanding metal 150-foot-tall monopole-style tower off Dinglebrook Lane, near the Brookfield town line, intended to improve cellular telephone communications in that general area.

AT&T, doing business as New Cingular Wireless, PCS, LLC, plans to file an application for the proposed tower and related electronic equipment with the Connecticut Siting Council, a New Britain-based state agency.

The siting council reviews and acts on applications for such towers, a task that formerly was handled by municipal land use agencies across the state. Locally, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) formerly reviewed such development applications.

People interested in reviewing the application for the 24 Dinglebrook Lane facility, which AT&T intends to submit to the siting council, may do so at the town land use agency offices at 31 Peck’s Lane during normal business hours. AT&T has referred the document to the town government for its comments before its application is submitted to the siting council.

Resident Sheila Cole of 9 Scenic View Drive, which is near the site proposed for the tower, said this week of her neighbors’ concerns about the proposal, “We do have questions. We definitely will be at the hearing.”  

Ms Cole said she has contacted other residents of the area to learn their opinions on the tower proposal. Residents of the area plan to contact the first selectman about their concerns, she said.

In its application, 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.

Town emergency service personnel have long complained that two-way emergency radio communications are unreliable in the general area near the site proposed for the tower. 

Under the siting council’s rules, a tower owner would be required to offer free antenna space on a tower to a municipality, provided that such space is available and provided that the municipality’s antennas are compatible with the tower’s design.

AT&T proposes leasing a 7,000-square-foot area at the approximately 25-acre site which is owned by the estate of Paul R. Lundgren. A 150-foot-tall freestanding 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 tower would be 42 inches in diameter at its base and taper to 26 inches in diameter at its peak. AT&T proposes extending a gravel driveway to the site. Electric and telephone lines serving the site would be buried.

The average height of the tree canopy in the area proposed for the tower is about 75 feet, according to AT&T. Lake Lillinonah lies about 1,650 feet to the east.

To build the complex, the firm would need to cut down about 20 trees, according to the application. AT&T would install up to 12 antennas on the tower and might have other telecommunications companies locate their antennas on its tower.

According to a tower visibility study performed for AT&T, about 200 acres of the adjacent 8,000-acre area would have a view of the tower. Some areas would have a view of the tower with the terrain, not the sky, in the background, it adds.

The land where the tower would be built has no unique scenic, natural, historic, or recreational characteristics, according to AT&T.

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

The first-day session of the siting council’s as-yet-unscheduled public hearing on the AT&T proposal would be conducted in Newtown. On that day, a tethered helium balloon would be flown at the site to indicate how tall the tower would stand in relation to its surroundings. Any subsequent hearings would be held at the siting council offices in New Britain.

The siting council’s last approval for a freestanding cellular tower in Newtown came in December 2003, when the panel approved a tower at 3 Edmond Road for Omnipoint Facilities Network-2, LLC, which was a subsidiary of T-Mobile USA, Inc. The firm had requested a 150-foot-tall tower, but the siting council reduced its height to 130 feet. The firm had initially sought to build a tower near Walnut Tree Hill Road, but that proposal drew opposition from nearby residents, resulting in an alternate location being approved.

In June 2002, the siting council approved the erection of a freestanding cellular telecommunications tower at 151 Berkshire Road. The James E. Dwyer, Company, Inc of Fairfield was the applicant.

In that approval, the siting council reduced the proposed tower’s height from 150 feet to 120 feet. Dwyer’s initially proposed site for the tower had been at a higher elevation at 14 Osborne Hill Road, but that proposal drew opposition from nearby residents and the siting council approved the alternate location.