TOWNSHEND — The Selectboard will suggest a few tweaks, but it apparently likes what it sees in tentative plans from AT&T to erect a cell tower on the hill behind the library.
At their May 5 meeting, Selectboard members noted that the telecommunications giant was scheduled to conduct a tethered balloon test this week to gauge visibility of its hypothetical tower at 140 feet.
The proposal is available at town offices in hard copy and on CD-ROM, and public comments will be sought - particularly from abutters. The land is privately owned.
AT&T said it would like Townshend officials to weigh in within 45 days of May 5, or roughly the first week of June, before it makes its case with the state's Public Service Board for a needed Certificate of Public Good.
AT&T is engaged in an aggressive program of improvements and new construction of its network nationally, to the tune of $22 billion a year for three years, and has aimed to erect hardware also in Dover, Jamaica, Putney, Rockingham, and Winhall.
The company said in a press release in March that it had spent nearly $60 million on wireless and wired networks in Vermont between 2011 and 2013, “driving a wide range of upgrades to enhance speed, reliability, coverage and performance for residents and business customers.”
According to Selectboard Assistant Craig Hunt, Townshend's Town Plan encourages the buildout of wireless service - and many here are eager for it.
“I will say that I for one have been active in trying to get some sort of cell service in this town for the last six years, so this is something that's coming to fruition,” he said.
Hunt explained that the Planning Commission also has a copy of the plans and is set to work on its own response to the proposal.
AT&T does not need the town's permission to raise a cell tower but prefers to secure municipal support in its application to the PSB, and has shown its willingness elsewhere to factor local concerns into its plans.
The state's section 248(a) process authorizes the PSB to permit cell towers without local approval, as this service is widely viewed to be in the overriding public interest.
Officials' wish list
Based on discussion May 5, AT&T can expect to hear a formal request that its cell tower, if the company chooses to build it as proposed, be fenced in, as plans do not currently call for a fence.
Officials also signalled they want AT&T to donate space on its tower for a town antenna, and sheltered space in maintenance shacks for one or two radio repeaters for emergency and highway department use.
The town will need to secure a permit for an additional radio frequency, officials said.
Finally (at least so far) the town is eager to forward a request from Rescue, Inc., that AT&T not only fence its tower in, but also set aside funds for what Board Chair Kathy Hege relayed as “a plan for the safe evacuation for anybody who's dumb enough to climb the tower. [...] Some type of compensation for high-angle rescue to reimburse the team.”
She noted that in the proposal “there is no provision whatsoever for a fence. And there is a high school next door.”
Members agreed this was well within AT&T's power to deliver, that the company deals with such requests as a matter of course, and that “it's not a large request on our part by any means.”
Hunt added, perhaps in jest, “Anybody that's going to climb a tower can scale a fence.”
By way of contrast, if this is shaping up to be an easy sell for AT&T with Townshend - residents have yet to weigh in - the company recently had a much grimmer time in Putney, where residents turned out in fierce opposition to a similar plan there on rural residential land.
The company did not get Putney's support - indeed, Putney's Planning Commission voted “No” as the final plan proved to violate a height ordinance - but AT&T filed for its CPG anyway. The application is pending.
Also in April, AT&T got PSB approval for a second tower in Newfane: a 140-foot-tall monopole to improve cell service in the Route 30 corridor.