The Planning & Zoning Commission on Monday will take public comment regarding a divisive proposal to erect a cell phone tower behind West School, officials say.
Rendering of proposed cell tower.
Under state law, the Commission is charged with making a positive or negative report back to the town prior to major changes on public land. A special meeting has been scheduled for 6 p.m. in the large meeting room at Town Hall for P&Z to hear presentations from Verizon as well as a cell tower developer that has been pushing since the summer for a tower at 769 Ponus Ridge.
At that meeting, P&Z also will take comments from the public, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan confirmed last week.
“That is the first step of several public meetings on this,” Moynihan said during the Oct. 18 meeting of the Board of Selectmen.
The cell tower plan for West School emerged in public documents in June, drawing concerns from residents while Selectmen Nick Williams and Kathleen Corbet called for more community input regarding the plans to erect a tower 1,000 feet behind West School or to build another, taller one further out.
Williams has said it makes little sense to involve other municipal bodies, such as P&Z, if the Board of Selectmen itself is not in favor of the tower, since the selectmen would need to approve a ground lease with Homeland Towers in any case.
Even so, Moynihan laid out an approvals schedule, and the first selectman himself requested the so-called “8-24” referral from P&Z (a reference to the Municipal Improvements statute). In his request letter to P&Z, Moynihan said, “As First Selectman, and as a member of the Town Council for four years prior (during which time I followed closely the work of the [Utilities Commission] and the Commission’s amendment of the Section 7.8 regulation on Telecommunications Facilities), I have personal knowledge of the need for improved cellular service on the west side of town for the safety of our residents, visitors and first responder as well as for our teachers and students at West School. Our first responders need adequate cell service for their own safety and for their internet-based communications equipment to work which is critical to performing their missions (e.g., police cruisers and EMS ambulances have devices that depend on service from Verizon and AT&T Wireless). Moreover, in a modern town, residents, visitors and various commercial users, such as FedEx, UPS and Amazon delivery trucks, realtors’ lock boxes, etc., require adequate cell service. I request that the Commission issue a positive report on the proposal by [Homeland Towers] and construct a cell tower (with Verizon and other carriers expected) on Town-owned property at 769 Ponus Ridge Road.”
If P&Z issues a negative report, the West School cell tower could still move forward with two-thirds majority backing of the Town Council, under Section 8-24 of the Connecticut General Statutes.
Moynihan in his letter referred to a section of the New Canaan Zoning Regulations (page 164 here) that P&Z updated four years ago. It spells out a requirement that a Special Permit is needed from P&Z to put up infrastructure such as cell towers on public property, among other rules. The town hired a consultant for $7,500 to help steer P&Z through the regulation update—however, according to municipal officials, Town Attorney Ira Bloom has issued a legal memo saying that P&Z has no such authority. (NewCanaanite.com last week filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Bloom’s memo but as of publication of this article the town has failed to provide the public document.)
The town, which exceeded its legal budget by 32% in the last fiscal year, has spent about $4,500 in legal fees on the West School cell tower proposal in recent months.
It’s unclear what P&Z will do. Members of the appointed body walked the property at 769 Ponus Ridge on Friday to review a proposed cell tower location.
During the Commission’s Oct. 13 meeting, some members of P&Z said they could issue a negative report and pass the matter along to the Town Council (an elected body) for vetting. At the time, there also was an open question as to whether P&Z would allow public comment at its own meeting.
Commissioner Dan Radman said, “I think we sort of have a responsibility to the public and to the town to have that forum here in front of us. Even though it might happen in front of the Town Council, as well. There is sort of an expectation among townspeople when an issue like this has come up—which it has come up in the past, here in this forum in front of this Commission—they have had the opportunity to opine on it, whether we’ve voted for or against it, whatever it was. I think if we now, for whatever reason, change that format and do not allow public input, I don’t think it’s going to be looked on very favorably by townspeople.”
Some in New Canaan already have submitted letters to P&Z voicing opposition to the plans.
Abby Dunkin in an Oct. 20 letter said, “Please vote against the cell tower at West—these are little children who do not need to spend hours a day under a cell tower. I do not want this to be a precedent for our other schools to follow.”
Morgan Beckerman identified herself as the parent of children attending and expected to attend West School, and said in a letter, “With all due respect, I am unsure how this is even a topic of conversation. How could anyone in this town or affiliated with this town entertain putting a cell tower 1000 yards from an elementary school? There is plenty of research and documented evidence which shows how harmful this type of radiation is to humans, and certainly to developing children. To me, it’s inhumane, dangerous, irresponsible and there has to be a better solution. PLEASE reconsider the location and keep this out of West School’s back yard.”
[Editor’s Note: This article has been corrected so that the address of West School at 769 Ponus Ridge appears throughout.]
I was at the site visit on Friday. I was struck by the simple fact that at 900+/- as is listed on the document provided to us by the Town Planner, I could not only see the fence of the playground, but we could all hear the children laughing and playing outside on the beautiful day that it was. The 900 feet measures only to the tip of the gymnasium, NOT the playground. It makes it more like 450 feet. Children’s skulls are not fully formed when they are this age. How can we subject them to close to 6000 hours of radiation from these towers? How can we subject the staff, neighbors and visitors to that? Study after study has been done in Europe stating how much more likely people in close proximity to cell towers have higher rates of cancer. Why here? This is the largest 8 Track Tape Player left in production. There is better technology out there. Let’s find it together.
A “modern town” would look at more modern technology. Not outdated monopine technology (at an elementary school?). I am
NOT arguing the need for better service. I’ll ask the same questions I did back in July when this was forced on us residents:
Where is the due diligence on this project? Where is the data that the Richey tower has, in fact, enhanced cell service? What other technologies have been evaluated and presented to BoS, P & Z, Town Council? Why were other, more modern technologies not chosen? What is the enhanced service range of the monopine at West? Why Homeland Towers (NOT one of the top providers)? Who services this at West school on a regular basis? Maybe one could answer their constituents with a thorough response that shows you actually listen and have done your homework in the current environment (not using data from years ago). Public comments at a plethora of 6 and 7pm town meetings are great but if the comments are never addressed, what’s the point? A campaign promise and handshake with Homeland isn’t enough for me to buy in.
I struggle with how the town I call home could even propose to put a huge cell tower behind an elementary school where sweet children learn and play all day. Parents at West aren’t even permitted inside the school to drop off a forgotten lunch bag. How does the town propose to monitor the countless individuals that will be building this monstrosity and then having to service it? We can do better for our children New Canaan.
The manner in which this has been handled is disappointing. I appreciate the detailed coverage that has helped our community regain accountability, and I hope our P&Z Commission and Town Council will right the ship.
The Zoom Link and Agenda for tonight’s Special P+Z Meeting has not been posted on the Government Calendar as of 9:20am today:
https://www.newcanaan.info/calendar.php
However, if you go to the Documents on Demand you will find the Agenda and Link. Resident comments are very important but they must be communicated to the P+Z Commissions via email, zoom or in person during the public comment period.
https://newcanaantownct.documents-on-demand.com/?l=05aedc058979e911a2cd000c29a59557&r=B31D2CFA7DD0BE77539263E3124B3290&d=120aed7d4a51ed11a395000c29a59557
Your comments are important but they need to go to the P+Z commissioners.
Email your comments and include your full legal name and street address SEND TO:
Town Planner: lynn.brooksavni@newcanaanct.gov
and cc Administrative Assistant: lola.sweeney@newcanaanct.gov
These West School children cannot choose to be there as it is in the case of the cell towers at Waveny Park. State compulsory education laws require children to attend school. These children do not have a choice or a voice, so we have to speak up for them!
If this cell tower is approved at West School, which school will be next? South school? East School? The West School cell tower will pave the way for other cell towers at all other schools. Our town will be known for its cell towers and cell reception instead of the great schools many of us moved to New Canaan for.
Kevin Moynihan has left West School parents in the dark.
I attended the site visit on Friday and directly asked Mr. Moynihan why parents haven’t been informed about tonight’s meeting. He dodged the question. Some of our new town council members have been pushing to get information to parents.
Mr. Moynihan claims this tower is for the safety of the students and that parents need to “get on board.” So why not take the time to educate parents about this potential tower and the approval process? Why is he hiding from sharing information if this is good for our children? Release the memo from Ira Bloom. Why did he try to get the Board of Selectman to sign a lease with Homeland Towers in the middle of July when families were away?
Mr. Moynihan has also claimed at a recent Board of Selectman meeting that after meeting with the school’s Crisis Advisory Board that the “teachers” are in favor of a cell tower. That is grossly misleading. The BOE confirmed that no teachers were present at that meeting. That meeting consisted of school administration officials. Let’s not speak for our teachers who might have the same concerns as parents, especially as many of them will be at West for years.
Mr. Moynihan, please stop misleading residents and your colleagues.
The memo from Town Attorney Ira Bloom was released to me at 12:59 p.m. today. It can be found here.
Towns throughout Connecticut surely would be troubled to learn their control over town-owned property was given away to a statewide siting council. I would be surprised if the Connecticut courts reached the same conclusion as our Town Attorney has advocated in this memo.
The unanswered question after last night’s P&Z meeting is “what’s the rush?” Mobile transmission technology has changed greatly since 2014, when the last needs study was conducted. As Commissioner Radman observed, distributed nodes would address any alleged safety concerns as well as, if not better than, a risky 145-foot radio antenna constructed behind a school. And cutting down woods for a 600-foot long gravel road is hard to reconcile with anyone’s notion of a “Plan of Conservation.”
This effort is being rammed through against the will of the majority of voters. The Town Council and the Board of Selectman need to press pause and get answers before this hazardous commercial development on an important piece of town land goes any farther.
Kevin Moynihan, the artful dodger, has a lot of explaining to do. It’s unclear why a cell tower disguised as a tree can’t go up at Irwin Park. From here on in, all necessary and speculative projects that might affect any/all of our schools need to be made public and advertised as such.