Date: Fri 27-Dec-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Sprint-Rock-Ridge-cell-tower

Full Text:

Sprint Seeks Approval For Rock Ridge Cell Tower

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Sprint Spectrum, a Wallingford limited partnership, is seeking Zoning Board of

Appeals (ZBA) approval to build a 180-foot-tall cellular communications tower

off Rock Ridge Road.

In its application, Sprint seeks two variances to the town zoning regulations

to build the tower. The variances would allow an additional use of a

residential property and would allow the structure to be higher than the

town's height limit for structures.

Sprint wants to build the tower on the wooded southeast corner of a 6.7-acre

residential property at 30 Rock Ridge Road owned by Jeffrey and Maureen

Helgren. The property, which is in an R-2 zone, is on the east side of Rock

Ridge Road about halfway between Robin Hill Road and Birch Hill Road. The

proposed tower would be similar to the cellular tower near Interchange-11 of

Interstate-84 in Sandy Hook.

Sprint wants ZBA permission to build, operate and maintain a 180-foot-tall

freestanding, monopole-style tower which would hold arrays of cellular

communications antennas. The tower would be topped by a 7.5-foot tall

lightning rod, bringing the structure's overall height to 187.5 feet.

The Helgren property has 11 adjoining properties. All 11 property owners are

to be notified of the application and a of public hearing on it scheduled for

January 7 at 8 pm at Town Hall South.

In its application, Sprint states operating a cellular communications tower

will have little or no impact on the residential use of the area. A literal

enforcement of the zoning regulations, which would prevent tower construction,

would create a hardship because it would prevent the owners of the property

from using the property for a communications antenna system that would have

little or no impact on the residential area, according to Sprint.

The local topography and site conditions encourage using the land for an

antenna tower, Sprint states. The site is near Route 302, which is the focal

point for cellular communications in that area.

The Helgren site "is one of the few sites which has an elevation and

surrounding topography which would permit the proposed use and which is in

close proximity to Route 302," according to Sprint.

Due to steep slopes on the site, it's impractical if not impossible, to make

full use of the site for any other permitted land use, Sprint states, adding

the presence of a tower is necessary to establish its Personal Communications

Services (PCS) wireless network under the terms of the Federal

Telecommunications Act.

The tower site would have a dimension of 50 feet by 50 feet. Equipment

cabinets would be positioned near the tower. Evergreen trees would be placed

at the site for landscaping. A chain-link fence topped with barbed wire would

provide site security. The site would be periodically visited by technicians

for routine maintenance work.

Lucent Technologies and Bechtel Alliance would build the tower and antenna

system for Sprint.

Sprint would install a set of antenna racks atop the proposed tower for its

PCS system. A second set on antennas eventually might be positioned further

down the tower for future use.

Other Tower Challenged

The ZBA's November decision to allow Sprint to build a 150-foot-tall tower for

cellular communications near the Newtown-Monroe border has been challenged in

court.

In the 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 has

leased on industrially-zoned land at 352 South Main Street.

In the lawsuit, Ms Schneider claims that in granting Sprint a variance to the

zoning regulations and a special permit it requested, the ZBA acted illegally,

arbitrarily and in abuse of the discretion vested in it. The suit alleges the

ZBA granted Sprint a zoning variance without Sprint having offered any

evidence of a hardship or without the ZBA making any findings of a hardship.

Ms Schneider claims that the communications tower planned by Sprint would

seriously hurt her use, enjoyment and value of her residential property.

According to the company, building a tower and antenna array there won't

damage adjoining property values, won't cause radio or television

interference, and won't damage the public's health or safety. That system

would provide communications for individuals, businesses and emergency

services located along Routes 6, 34, 25 and 302.

Sprint wants to build that tower in an M-5 Industrial zone on the west side of

South Main Street, south of Bear Hills Road, just north of the Monroe border.

PCS is a communications network used for voice phones, pagers, answering

machines, faxes, modems, call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, and text

messaging.

According to Sprint, its PCS network operates at higher radio frequencies and

lower radiated power outputs than previous cellular communications systems.

The installation of a tower and antenna array is especially intended to

improve the performance of hand-held wireless telephones.

In recent years, public concerns have been expressed over whether people

living near radio transmitters face health risks.

In its application for the South Main Street tower, Sprint stated "The

proposed operation of the antenna on the site will have no impact on the

health, safety and welfare of the surrounding area or the community as a

whole," according to a Sprint study on the topic titled "Human Exposure to

Radio-Frequency Emissions."