Whitefield Planning Board members Jim Torbert (left) and Glenn Angell review town ordinances to determine if U.S. Cellular’s application for a cellphone tower complies during the board’s Wednesday, Sept. 14 meeting. (Abigail Adams photo)
Town attorney Mary Denison reviews U.S Cellular’s application for a cellphone tower on Townhouse Road during a Whitefield Planning Board meeting Wednesday, Sept. 14. (Abigail Adams photo)
After three hours of deliberation on U.S. Cellular’s application to construct a 190-foot monopole cellphone tower on Townhouse Road, the Whitefield Planning Board ruled the application incomplete Wednesday, Sept. 14.
With town attorney Mary Denison present, the planning board reviewed Whitefield’s wireless communication and development ordinances line by line to determine if the application met the ordinances’ requirements.
While the application largely satisfied the requirements of both ordinances, planning board members identified some conditions that may need to be attached if the board is to approve the project.
However, the application, which went to a public hearing before the planning board ruled it complete, did not include two pieces of information required by the wireless communication ordinance’s submission guidelines.
Black Diamond Consultants, acting on behalf of U.S. Cellular, will be asked to provide a written statement from U.S. Cellular describing the need for the tower at the proposed location and a computer-generated photographic simulation of the tower operating at full capacity.
They are submission requirements of the wireless communication ordinance that were not met, and the board will not be able to take further action until the information is provided, planning board member Glenn Angell said.
The proposed location of the tower, 571 Townhouse Road, on land leased from property owner John Pagurko, was a source of contention during a public hearing in August, with several residents asking why that location was picked.
Black Diamond Consultants, charged with handling the permitting, licensing, and construction of the tower, was given a 2.5-mile search area to find a property owner willing to lease land for the construction of the tower, said Jim Hebert, engineer with Black Diamond Consultants, at a previous meeting.
Six locations were identified and U.S. Cellular determined 571 Townhouse Road was the only one that would work, Hebert said at the public hearing.
“It sounds like they still need to explain the why,” Denison said.
U.S. Cellular will now be asked to do that in a written statement. Computer-generated simulations of a fully operational tower from four locations around Whitefield will also be requested before the board can take further action.
Several residents turned out to express opposition to the proposed cellphone tower at the public hearing. The planning board accepted additional written testimony until Sept. 2.
A resident objected to the process, claiming the introduction of evidence after the public hearing was unfair, Chair Jim Torbert said. According to Denison, Whitefield’s wireless communication ordinance does not require a public hearing; holding one is done at the discretion of the planning board.
All material, including written testimony, was available to the public at the town office, Denison said. The planning board did not violate any rules regarding due process, she said.
While it may be advisable for the planning board to rule an application complete prior to seeking public input through the hearing process, that also is not a legal requirement, Denison said.
In reviewing the application, the planning board determined several conditions that may need to be applied if the board is going to approve the cellphone tower. The ordinance requires the company to maintain a 100-foot buffer around the tower site.
According to the terms of the current lease, the cellphone company only controls 25 feet of the required 100 feet. Revision of the lease to ensure the 100-foot buffer will be maintained may need to be a condition for the application’s approval, Denison said.
The ordinance also calls for the fence around the site to be screened by trees. The fact that the property owner recently cut down several trees on the property has made the approval of the application more complicated than it otherwise would have been, Angell said.
However, a landscape plan with plantings to screen the fence could be attached as a condition of approval, Angell said. According to Angell, the culvert on the access road to the tower site may need to be resized, which may be another condition of approval.
In reviewing the wireless communication ordinance, several areas were identified that may need further revision. Angell presented a list of revisions he would like to make to the ordinance.
According to Denison, the timelines in the ordinance, which require a determination within 60 days of receiving an application, should be revised to enable greater flexibility.
In June, voters overwhelmingly approved changing the height requirement in the wireless communication ordinance from 120 feet to 199 feet to enable construction of a cellphone tower.
Once the submission requirements are met, the Whitefield Planning Board will meet to continue consideration of U.S. Cellular’s application.
