Conservation Panel Endorses

Telcom Tower Plan

By Andrew Gorosko

Conservation Commission members have determined that a proposal to construct a 150-foot-tall wireless telecommunications tower in an industrial area off South Main Street would have “no significant impact” on the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer, the town’s sole source aquifer.

Omnipoint Communications, Inc., of Bloomfield is proposing construction of a monopole-style tower at 201 South Main Street at the Georgia-Pacific Corporation’s lumber handling and storage facility. The 21-acre property south of Ethan Allen Road is adjacent to the town animal shelter and waste recycling center. The site is in an M-2 Industrial zone.

Because the site lies within the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD), the application is subject to review by the Conservation Commission, acting in an advisory capacity to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z). Using the town’s zoning regulations on aquifer protection, the P&Z would decide whether the application poses environmental risks to the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer, the aquifer which supplies the nearby wellhead of United Water.

Conservation Commission members June 14 unanimously decided the construction proposal, which involves the physical disturbance of about one-twentieth of an acre, would have no significant impact on the aquifer, said Conservation Official C. Stephen Driver.

Omnipoint’s application for a special exception to the zoning regulations to build the tower will be subject to review by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). The firm has not yet submitted an application for the 150-foot-tall tower to the ZBA.

Omnipoint proposes locating a sky-gray tower on a 240-square-foot site which it would lease from Georgia-Pacific. A chain-link fence topped with barbed wire would enclose the tower. Several beige electronic equipment cabinets would be positioned nearby. The site would be landscaped with arborvitae bushes.

Omnipoint states the installation would have no effect on the value of nearby properties.

“The proposed development of a wireless telecommunications facility on the subject property will have no impact on the underlying aquifer,” according to Diversified Technology Consultants, a firm which prepared an aquifer assessment study for Omnipoint.

 In May, the ZBA rejected an application for several zoning variances which would have been required for the construction of a 199-foot-tall commercial wireless telecommunications tower off Berkshire Road in Sandy Hook. ZBA members unanimously rejected that request for zoning variances from SBA Communications, Inc. – a proposal which had drawn strong opposition from people living near the 249 Berkshire Road site proposed for the tower.

ZBA members acted on the SBA application using the new set of zoning regulations created by the P&Z last fall to regulate the installation of such towers and related equipment. In rejecting that application, ZBA members agreed that SBA Communications had not demonstrated there was any hardship which would justify it being granted the several zoning variances. Some of the requested variances concerned the proposed tower’s proximity to residential buildings.

The SBA application was the first application subject to the P&Z’s new telecommunications rules. Newtown has seven other sites for wireless telecommunications, but none of those sites were subject to the new regulations.

The P&Z’s new telecommunications rules are intended to encourage the location of commercial wireless telecommunications towers and antennas away from residential neighborhoods and to protect natural and scenic vistas.

Through the rules, the P&Z hopes to minimize the adverse visual and operational effects of the facilities through careful design, siting, and screening, and hopes to protect historic aspects of the community from adverse effects.

The new regulations give the town certain regulatory powers over the placement of facilities intended for cellular telephony and other forms of commercial radio telecommunications. The regulations are intended to balance the need for such facilities with protecting the public health, safety, convenience, and property values. The new rules acknowledge the limitations placed on municipalities by the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, which bars towns from banning such telecommunications facilities.

The rules are intended to encourage the location of commercial wireless telecommunications towers and antennas away from residential neighborhoods and to protect natural and scenic vistas. The rules encourage the placement of facilities on non-residential buildings and structures. The regulations also encourage the joint use of new or existing towers and facilities.

The regulations are intended to reduce the number of towers and/or antennas needed in the future and to accommodate the need for such facilities, while regulating their location and number.

Public radio telecommunications facilities are exempted from the regulations.