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05/01/2018 04:23 PMThe elevated Connecticut Water Company (CWC) water tank on Route One will be taken down late in the summer of 2018. That’s the message that CWC representatives Maureen Westbrook and Craig Patla will present to the Board of Selectmen at the board’s Tuesday, May 8 meeting.
Long a landmark to the town’s full-time and summer residents, the tank had reached the end of its useful life. At 500,000 gallon capacity, it was relatively small and would have needed $1.5 million in structural repairs to restore it. In 2010, CWC completed construction of a new 1.6 million gallon water storage tank in Westbrook north of I-95 off Route 145. Once that tank came on-line, the Boston Post Road tank was no longer needed and so was taken off-line.
Recently, those passing the tank site at 1542 Boston Post Road probably noticed workers digging holes next to the tank tower. The holes will soon be the location where MCM Communications will install a temporary monopole that will be used as a communications tower. Once that pole is erected, communications antennas and related equipment now affixed to CWC’s water tower will be relocated and attached to the new tower.
“The tank has been off-line in recent years as Connecticut Water prepared for its removal. While the tank is a local landmark, it is old, expensive to maintain, in need of costly repairs, and provides no benefit to the water company customers,” said CWC spokesman Dan Meaney.
Meaney said that CWC investigated whether it could retain the tank just for the antennas, but decided it was not a viable option given the age and condition of the tank.
MCM Communications, LLC, applied in December 2017 to the State of Connecticut Siting Council for approval of the project’s first phase, installation of a temporary communications tower next to the existing water tank. The petition notes that the 121-foot water tank, owned by CWC, currently supports the Old Saybrook Police Department, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon antennas.
“We are mindful of our commitment to the community and have worked with local and regional first responders and cell service providers to maintain mobile communication antennas on the site, and provide free access to the tower for local and regional emergency communications,” said Meaney.
CWC has already obtained the required permits to install the temporary telecommunications tower on a 163-foot monopole on a 26- by 27-foot site surrounded by a six-foot high chain-link fence. Work to take the tank down will be completed this summer. The demolition work will be confined to the site and will have minimal impact on neighbors or traffic along Route One, according to Meaney.
Once the water tank is demolished, and the antennas relocated to the temporary tower, the telecommunications provider will apply to the Connecticut Siting Council for a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need. That certificate, if granted, would allow MCM to install a permanent communications tower either on the site or on a nearby site leased from Datilo Family Holdings, according to the December petition.
CWC does not anticipate that there will be any interruption in communications service for local residents or for emergency communications during the project to move equipment to the temporary tower, demolish the tank, or install a new permanent tower.
The Board of Selectmen asked representatives from CWC to attend their meeting to present their water tank plans in a public forum.