Alton planners say no to cell phone towers

Industrial Communications and Electronics of Mass., the company that which wants to put up two cell phone towers in town has lost the first round of its fight with town leaders.

A lengthy joint meeting of the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) last night ended with a decision by the planners to “table” the company’s application. The ZBA will now consider the company’s building request.

(At the conclusion of the meeting there was some dispute among the town leaders about how the case would be passed onto the ZBA; Planning Board Chairman Jeremy Dube said he would consult with the attorney soon to clarify the board’s decision.)

The Planning Board unanimously agreed on four “findings” regarding the company’s application and the town’s new telecommunications zoning ordinance that voters approved in March. All of them were proposed by Bonnie Dunbar and seconded by Tom Hoopes.

First, they decided that the company’s application for two 120-foot towers exceeded the ordinance, which limits towers to 10-feet above the tree canopy. Second, they found that the towers would violate the ordinance’s requirement that the towers not adversely impact any scenic viewsheds in town. Third, they ruled that the ordinance agreed with the recommendations in the town’s Master Plan. And fourth, they said that the company had not fully investigated the possibility of using a network of four or five smaller towers to provide the same level of service as the two taller ones.

A fifth finding, that the company had not made significant inquiries about finding other land in town that could be used for the towers was passed, 4-1, with Wally Keniston voting in the negative.

Last night’s meeting was a continuation of an earlier meeting which concluded when the boards asked Industrial Communications to perform “balloon tests” on the proposed tower sites. The tests, carried out last Saturday, used three balloons from each site — a red balloon to represent the planning board’s idea of what 10-feet above the tree canopy would be, which was about 75 above the ground; a black balloon at 95 feet to represent 10 feet above the tree canopy as defined by Industrial Communications; and finally another red balloon to represent the 120-feet tower the company says it actually needs to provide service to the community that desperately needs it.

The tests involved several members of the joint boards and other town officials driving around different areas of the community to see how noticeable the balloons were. Unlike a handful of people interviewed on Saturday in Alton Bay, Planning Board Chairman Dube and other board members said they could plainly see the balloons from the site at 486 East Side Drive (Route 28A) from several locations in town and on the lake.

The members also agreed that the balloons flying from the 1439 Wolfeboro Highway (Route 28) site were hardly visible at all.

Donald Cody, director of operations for Industrial Communications, said he was glad the board members were being objective about their task. “We’re not here to alter terrain of Alton, and we want to work with the town,” he said.

“From my perspective, it (the balloon line) was not extremely visible,” he said. “No matter where you put something above the tree-line you’re going to see it from somewhere.”

Cody also said a 120-feet tower is not exceptionally high. “Most are 180, 190-feet. But we do need some space to accommodate the carriers. . .We can disguise it as a tree.”

Cody said his company was ready to buy 28 acres to develop the East Side Drive site. “I don’t think you’ll find any carriers willing to do that.”

But when planning board members began suggesting the company try to contact other property owners with a more distinct offer and talking about a network of smaller towers, tensions between the town officials and company representatives grew.

“We have done that,” Cody said, referring the idea of contacting more landowners. “To send out letters to the churches to this area, it is an exercises in futility. We know they cannot send a signal five miles down the road. We have complied with the bylaws.”

When Dube understood that Cody was not willing to consider the multiple-tower options, he quickly went into the public input session. At the conclusion of that, the Planning Board voted on Dunbar’s findings.