Date: Fri 24-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Sprint-tower-NU

Full Text:

Sprint Seeks Antennas On NU's Tower

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Sprint Spectrum is seeking state approval to install an array of digital

cellular telecommunications antennas on an existing communications tower owned

by Northeast Utilities on Barnabas Road in the Hawleyville industrial area.

Sprint, a limited partnership, wants to place the antenna array about 90 feet

up on the 180-foot tall lattice-style tower. Northeast Utilities uses an

antenna atop the tower for company communications.

Sprint's application to install the nine cellular antennas was on the docket

for action by the Connecticut Siting Council in New Britain on Wednesday. But

the council postponed action on the request and may address it again at its

February 5 meeting, said State Rep Julia Wasserman.

It is unclear if Sprint needs any town approvals to install antennas on an

existing antenna tower.

Sprint wants to install a digital Personal Communications Service (PCS)

antenna array as part of the telecommunications network it is building in

Connecticut and elsewhere.

The antennas would be owned, operated and maintained by Sprint. Associated

equipment would be located at the base of the tower within a radio shack.

In its application to the siting council, Sprint states its proposal does not

increase the tower's height; the changes do not extend the boundaries of the

tower site; new equipment would be located within the boundaries of the site;

the tower is strong enough to support the new antennas; and the operation of

new antennas would not increase radio frequency emissions at the tower to a

level above applicable standards.

"This addition will not have a substantially adverse environmental effect,"

according to Sprint.~~~~

Earlier this month, in the face of strong neighborhood opposition to its

proposal to build a monopole-style 180-foot tall tower for digital cellular

telecommunications off Rock Ridge Road in Dodgingtown, Sprint withdrew its

proposal from Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) consideration.

Sprint was seeking zoning variances which would have allowed the construction

of a tower which is taller than allowed by town zoning regulations, as well as

permit a secondary use of a residential property.

After Sprint submitted its Rock Ridge Road tower application to the ZBA,

residents living near the site strenuously objected to the proposal, listing a

variety of reasons why the structure should not be built on

residentially-zoned property. Complaints included fears that radio frequency

emissions from the antennas on the tower could be harmful; nearby property

values would decrease; and the structure would be unsightly.

Sprint is expected to submit another application in the future to build a

telecommunications tower and antenna array somewhere to serve the Dodgingtown

area.

A November ZBA decision to allow Sprint to build a 150-foot tall tower for

digital cellular telecommunications near the Newtown-Monroe border has been

challenged in court.

In a lawsuit filed in Danbury Superior Court, property owner Deborah Schneider

of Fairfield, who owns 350 South Main Street, sued over Sprint's plans to

build a freestanding, monopole-style tower on land the company would lease on

industrially-zoned land at 352 South Main Street. Ms Schneider's adjacent

property has residential zoning.