Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cell tower company proposes smaller monopole in Sheffield

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2003 16:53:58 -0500

Cell tower company proposes smaller monopole in Sheffield

By Ellen G. Lahr
Berkshire Eagle Staff

SHEFFIELD -- The cellular tower siting company that tried two years ago to
gain approval for a 190-foot tower is trying again with a smaller version.
And so is dairy farmer James Larkin, the same landowner involved in the
deal in 2001.

He has a new agreement with Tower Ventures II to lease about a quarter
of an acre in a wooded section of his land off South Egremont Road, north
of the Bradford Auction gallery.

The Planning Board will hear the permit application of Tower Ventures II at
a Dec. 16 public hearing at Town Hall beginning at 7:30 p.m.
On Dec. 12, to give a visual model of the tower's impact, the company will
hoist a 150-foot crane at the proposed site.

The company is asking to install a 150-foot monopole, a single, tapered
steel pole that is 5 feet wide at the base and tapers to 18 inches at the
top, said Christopher Ciolfi, senior vice president of network development
for Tower Ventures.

Nextel, a cellular phone company, has already made a deal to place an
antenna on the tower, if approved, and other companies would likely follow
suit, he said.

Ciolfi said he is more optimistic this time around because the proposed site
is slightly different, the height is lower and attitudes about cellular phone
service are changing.

The Planning Board's previous decision was a split vote, in part because
Tower Ventures at that time did not have a cell phone company lease in
hand. Without a lease, a tower can appear "speculative," he said.
This tower will be more visually acceptable as well because it will be tucked
slightly more into the woods, he said, adding, "I think the attitude has
changed."

Planning Board Chairman Wray Gunn said the board rejected the initial
permit partly because of concerns about the safety of cellular tower radio
emissions and because of the height.

At the time, the town did not have a cellular communications tower bylaw,
but has since drafted one.

"I imagine at the hearing that some of the questions will come up, and I am
hoping that the applicants will have some more answers," he said. "I don't
think the health issue is as big now as it was then, since the tower
company has to meet government regulations."

Verizon Wireless has a cellular tower south of town, near the Connecticut
town line, but service is spotty, as it is in much of South County.
Larkin said the tower will be a clear benefit to people in town who rely on
cell phone service but can't get it.

Preservation restriction
Larkin, meanwhile, also has applied to the state for an agricultural
preservation restriction on his 350 acres of farmland. The APR provides a
financial incentive for farmers to keep their property undeveloped and used
for farming.

Larkin said 40 or so acres of his land has been excluded from the APR, and
that the tower would fall within that excluded acreage.
The income from a lease with Tower Ventures would certainly help the dairy
farm, a tough business.

"Any income is a financial help," he said.
Ciolfi said his company will be applying to the town of Great Barrington
within the next month or two to install antennas on a tower that is already
standing behind the WSBS radio station on Stockbridge Road

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7516~1787182,00.html

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