NewCanaaanite.com recently received the following letter(s) to the editor. Please email letters to editor@newcanaanite.com for publication here.
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Dear Editor,
It is disappointing that the Board of Selectmen will be discussing a new, taller, cell tower behind West School at their 8:30 a.m. meeting on Tuesday (3/21).
The proposal this past fall/winter was for a 145 foot tower behind West School. This new proposal is for a 185 foot tall tower behind West School, near Llewellyn Drive.
The First Selectman’s proposed towers are well above the town’s 110 foot limit outlined in several publicly available documents on the town’s website:
- “Cell Service FAQs” —“No cell site developed on any of these town properties will be taller than 110 feet”. “Sites built at either West School or Irwin Park must be limited to a maximum height of 110 ft.”
- “Improving New Canaan’s Cell Service”—“Address wide area coverage gaps with three concealed macro sites disguised as monopines with a capped height of 110 ft.”
- “RFP For the Design, Construction and Operation of Wireless Communications Infrastructure in the Town of New Canaan, CT” —“110-foot slick-stick monopole design represents the maximum height.
When the town of New Canaan selected Homeland Towers in the summer of 2016, there was agreement that new towers would not be taller than 110 feet. An article from the NewCanaanite states “However, if these macro sites must be used – and it is assumed they will be needed – the town is requesting that the tower heights be held to under 110 feet.”
What’s even more concerning is that the First Selectman and Homeland Towers briefly discussed the possibility of this 185 foot tower, but tabled it due to concerns both from Homeland Towers and Verizon:
- At the June 28, 2022 Board of Selectmen Meeting, Ray Vergati, Regional Manager of Homeland Towers, said when discussing the idea of putting a tower at the end of Llewellyn Drive: “the elevation is extremely low there, obviously, it is always wet, and as much as we would love to tuck a tower even further down slope, it doesn’t check the box for the carriers.”
- At the November 16, 2022 Town Council Public Hearing, Ray Vergati said: “we did look at a spot off Llewelyn Drive and because of the elevation down there the engineers would need roughly a 185 foot structure, and we’re sensitive to that. When I do a site in any given area, I look for the least visual impact. A 185 foot tower here is going to have a visual impact, in my opinion, over on Llewellyn and for the homes on Carriage Lane.”
I guess those concerns magically disappeared when the First Selectman and Homeland Towers received tremendous pushback on their last proposal?
It would seem wise, instead of dragging New Canaanites through another round of emotional and endless meetings, to end the drama. It seems like this is a wonderful opportunity for bipartisan collaboration to stop a bad idea before it goes any further.
Chip Murray
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I am a former resident of New Canaan who has worked in town since the 1970s. I strongly support keeping the library where it is. My father still lives in town and owns a home there. My husband and his family own 2 properties there. Despite the many changes we love this town and want to keep its history intact.
So much money has been spent fighting the demolition of our beautiful historic library and now millions more will be spent to move a fraction of it just 75 feet against some wall attached to the adjacent gas station. Why didn’t we buy out that gas station and add a “green space” there and left the historic part of the library in place?
If the town had bought out that space or offered to swap some other property for it, that corner could have been an official “Town Green” owned by the town not just some “green space.” The gas station is the only other property on the entire block. Gas stations aren’t pretty and that one is no exception. The adjacent gas station brings down the look of the entire library block in my opinion, as gas stations do, due to no fault of the owners.
Maria Recchia Frattaroli
Thanks Michael for publishing this and thanks to the many New Canaanites who continue to advocate against a cell tower on West School property.
Can’t understand why this issue has not been tabled. Bad idea from the start. Children are involved.
Thank you, Chip. In no map submitted by Homeland Towers has any mention been made of the easements owned by Aquarion. These pipes provide water to homes and hydrants for fighting fires. Even with a halfway yield point, this tower would threaten the pipe. In addition, the elevation surrounding this location is among the lowest points in New Canaan allowing for the necessary drainage of rain through flood plains and wetlands. The clearing of trees and building of a foundation for a 185′ tower would disrupt this most valuable of natural resources. Newer technology is out there. Let the Utilities Commission bring it to us. Conserve New Canaan!
Why aren’t we looking at newer, safer and less obtrusive technology to answer the holes in cell coverage for our town? Are huge, ghastly cell towers that you see on the side of a highway the only solution for our bucolic town? Pretty certain not one New Canaan townsperson would like to have one of these towers looming over their property and neighborhood (aside from those receiving financial kickbacks that is). Seems like our neighboring towns have figured it out, why can’t we?
When the Town of NC illegally expanded the West School playing fields years ago (without an Environmental Impact Study) it created a run-off ravine that eventually required remediation costing the Town more than $1mm in fines and expenses. Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
When the Town of NC wanted to put a much larger Water Tower at West School years ago, all the local neighbors had to battle the Town and the Water Co. at their own expense. The tower was installed at Waveny, as logic and the citizens of west NC prevailed. Again history seems to be repeating itself.
The woodland & wetland ecosystem in that part of town is not only fragile, but vital to the flora and fauna that thrive there. Deer, foxes, bobcats, coyotes, hawks, owls, pheasants, grouse, wild turkeys and numerous other native species call those woods home. Oak, maple, ash, hickory, beech, and ironwood trees among many other native species have prospered. 185-foot tall Mono-pines..not so much. The road, bridge, and concrete foundation needed to support a tower as tall Niagra Falls would surely impact the environment in a very negative way.
This land should be put into some sort of conservation easement, so this issue does not keep returning like a seven-year locust.