Date: Fri 08-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

ZBA-cellular-tower-Sprint

Full Text:

ZBA Approves Cellular Tower Construction

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) has approved construction of a 150-foot-tall

steel, monopole-style tower to hold a nine-antenna array for digitial cellular

communications.

ZBA members November 6 approved the request for a special permit and a zoning

variance from Sprint Spectrum, a limited partnership.

Sprint plans to build a freestanding 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.

Sprint plans to construct the tower to mount antennas for its Personal

Communications Services (PCS) wireless communications network. In 1995, Sprint

purchased a Federal Communications Commission license to provide its PCS

network in Connecticut. The tower and antennas will be similar to the

structure in Sandy Hook standing near Exit 11 of Interstate-84.

The 150-foot-tall tower will have an eight-foot-tall lightning rod attached

atop it for protection from lightning strikes. The installation will include

electronics cabinets on the ground surrounded by a six-foot-tall chain link

fence topped with barbed wire to keep people out. ZBA members required that

Sprint plant appropriate landscaping around the fencing to obscure the

installation from view.

The eight-acre site is currently occupied by a concrete business. Sprint has

reached an agreement with Maureen Julian of Julian Enterprises to lease 1,600

square feet of land at 352 South Main Street to build the tower, according to

Sprint's application to the ZBA. Access to the site will be provided by a

gravel driveway connecting it to South Main Street.

The cellular communications system will provide communications for

individuals, businesses and emergency services located along Routes 6, 34, 25

and 302, according to Sprint.

The tower planned for 352 South Main Street will improve communication

services in the area, especially improving the performance of hand-held

wireless telephones.

The cellular facility will be unmanned, but will be visited monthly for

routine maintenance.

The tower will have enough mast space on it to allow two additional

communications companies to build antenna arrays on it, according to Sprint.

"The design of the monopole (tower) and the character of the surrounding

landforms will greatly contribute to the lack of visibility within most of the

'viewshed,'" according to Sprint. Vegetation in the area is about 60 to 80

feet tall.

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

living near radio transmitters face health risks.

"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."

The proposed tower won't require a special high visibility paint pattern or

lighting because it won't pose hazards to flying aircraft, Sprint states.