Cell towers begin to creep up in landscape

CORNWALL — While one telecommunications tower project is poised to come under state scrutiny, another one has appeared on the horizon.

After much scrutiny over two proposed Cornwall sites on a ridge above Popple Swamp Road, Verizon Wireless has chosen the one at 16 Bell Road Extension. The company had originally considered a site at 78 Popple Swamp Road. Both sites are visible from Route 4, in the vicinity of the town’s recreation facilities at Foote Fields.

Verizon attorney Kenneth Baldwin confirmed by e-mail with The Lakeville Journal that the company is ready to proceed with an application to the Connecticut Siting Council. A date has not yet been selected for that filing, Baldwin wrote.

The Siting Council has jurisdiction over all cell towers in the state.

During informational meetings conducted by Verizon last year, residents came out in opposition to the visibility of the proposed tower, as well as potential impact on wetlands below the sites.

The Housatonic Valley Association weighed in with concerns about the extensive clearing, paving and soil retention needed for the long, switchback road that would access the site.

The Siting Council process will now offer public hearings, with at least one session in Cornwall.

Meanwhile, the Planning and Zoning Commission briefly considered at its April 13 meeting a letter from AT&T Wireless offering an opportunity to comment on a proposed tower off Route 63 at the northern end of town.

The letter from the Ottery Group in Silver Spring, Md., was an invitation to participate in a Section 106 review of a 180-foot monopole and associated equipment in a 40-by-90 foot compound.

It raised questions of exactly where the tower is located, with the address listed as “61 Hollenbeck Road, Cornwall CT 06031.� That’s the zip code for Falls Village.

Route 63 is called Hollenbeck Road through Cornwall and Falls Village, with lot numbering beginning in Falls Village at the Route 7 intersection. That would put Lot 61 on the steep ridge between Route 7 and Route 126.

However, Stacy Montgomery, the architectural historian and Ottery Group employee who wrote the letter, said the site, per information provided by AT&T, is located “in Cornwall Hollow� about a half mile north of the intersection of Route 63 and North Goshen Road. That puts it about midway between Hautboy Hill Road and Route 43 — definitely in Cornwall.

P&Z, at this point, needs only to respond if it intends to comment, which will trigger the receipt of more detailed information.