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12/04/2018 01:30 PMA temporary communications tower that went up when the old water tower across Route One from Water’s Edge Resort & Spa came down is just that—temporary. Issues of safety, efficiency, aesthetics, and income are riding on the decision about the site of the permanent tower, which will be the topic of a Town of Westbrook a public meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall.
The Connecticut Siting Council, a state agency that has the final say on communications tower siting, permitted MCM Communications (MCM) to erect the temporary 160-foot tower in preparation for the July demolition of the Connecticut Water Company (CWC) water storage tower, which carried cell phone antenna for AT&T, Verizon, and T Mobile and, since 1997, emergency communications equipment for the town of Old Saybrook.
The public meeting—formally termed a technical consultation hearing—is legally optional, explained Christopher B. Fisher, managing partner at Cuddy & Feder, a law firm hired by MCM to manage the process of applying for the license.
“Westbrook elected to have one so the public can be informed well in advance of application being filed,” Fisher said, noting that the application will likely be filed in the new year.
“We’ll have the hearing and the town, through its selectmen, will have the opportunity to provide any comments and recommendations that they may want the Siting Council to consider,” Fisher said. “Those are advisory comments and the council takes them seriously.”
Fisher said that MCM and his firm also will consider public comments when drawing up the application.
The Old Saybrook Police Department has a keen interest in this process.
“The presence of this infrastructure in Westbrook is vital to the safety of firefighters and police in Old Saybrook,” said Old Saybrook Chief of Police Michael A. Spera. “Without that infrastructure being there, not only is our safety compromised, but the ability to deliver services to our residents is also compromised.
“Without this tower, anywhere from the Schoolhouse Road area in Old Saybrook west toward Westbrook, I have no ears,” said Spera, so a police officer or firefighter calling for help would not be able to get through. “So that’s why this spot in Westbrook is so vital to our safety and success.”
Were the tower to be moved to a new location, Spera said, a study would have to be conducted by the Town of Old Saybrook to determine whether it would meet the town’s emergency needs.
Fisher pointed out that between 70 and 80 percent of emergency calls are made via cellular phones. Thus, there’s a public safety element to commercial carriers, as well.
As required by the Siting Council, MCM has examined “around nine” alternate sites in the area, all of them owned by the Dattilo Family Trust, which is also the owner of Water’s Edge, MCM National Sales Manager Robert Stanford said. But the Dattilo Family Trust has plans for all the sites but one, which abuts the current site to the north.
The application will list the primary site as the current one, which is owned by the CWC, with the Dattilo parcel as the alternate site.
In addition to radio coverage and the view from the roadway, the site chosen will also has a monetary impact. MCM currently maintains a long-term lease with CWC, which owns the land. This revenue is used to “offset rates for our customers,” said CWC Vice President Craig J. Patla. If the Siting Council chooses the Dattilo site, MCM would need to negotiate a lease of that property.
The permanent tower will be 130 feet tall—the same height as the water tank and 30 feet shorter than the temporary tower—and situated further from the road. The additional height of the temporary tower was required to enable the radio frequency to “look over the tank to the north,” said Stanford.
Chief Spera pointed out an irony: Had the water company chosen to replace the water tank and reinstalled the communications equipment on the new tank, the license application would not have been required.
“It’s only because it’s a skinny pole instead of a water tank,” he said—a pole that will be the same height as the old water tank, with a much smaller footprint.