Sketches for Proposed 150’ Cell Tower at Transfer Station

The Utilities Commission has released more details from AT&T about a proposed cell tower at the Transfer Station back behind Lakeview Cemetery.

Attached as a PDF is a satellite image of the station that includes details of where the “monopole” (one type of cell tower, selected for this project) would go. To orient yourself to the photo, the upper-left corner of it is where you’ll find the roadway that motorists use to get to the facility from Lakeview Avenue—the pole itself is represented by the two parallel lines at the end of an arrow from the box that says “(P) 150’ monopole for 3 carriers.”

The proposal for a cell tower at the transfer station—which advocates say is important not only to the quality of life in general, with improved cell service, but also for safety reasons—has generated discussion in town and here on New Canaan Patch. Here are snippets from some comments from the most recent article on the transfer station proposal specifically:

• Esprit de Corps: There are at least 3 studies -- 1 German, 1 Israeli and 1 Austrian -- from 2004 to 2008 which show that cancer frequency is higher for people living in close proximity to cell towers. Women and seniors seem to be at higher risk. The proposed transfer station location is very close to the highest population-density areas in New Canaan and therefore puts more people at risk than locations in lower population-density areas.
   
• Michael J. Nowacki: Generally speaking, the utilization of the public land cites for cell phone towers which are owned by the municipality is a good utilization of town lands, subject to land use regulations. The Board of Selectman in The Town of New Canaan has a number of safety issues for emergency responders that should be considered by the Utilities Commission.

• Alexander A. Amarilios: Will a cell tower at the transfer station give coverage to us in the Pinney's Corner area? And as far as camouflaging is concerned, nobody will notice a regular tower a month after it is installed and the public got used to it. As long as itis not like the monstrosity by the Hutch.

• Kendall L Owott: It's a divided camp but a tower mast loaded up with different users may not have been studied at all. It's probably cheaper to install one large tower but safer to go for a dispersed lower-power network in key emergency locations. It doesn't seem fair to trade off safety for more chit chat but emergency facilities are worth a look. We need the latest science and not commercial assurances.

Backed this week by the Board of Selectmen, the proposal at Lakeview Avenue requires the support of Planning and Zoning as well as the Town Council.