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CORNWALL — Situated at the intersection of Route 7 and Route 4, Cornwall Bridge holds the highest concentration of commercial businesses in this otherwise sleepy town. But limited pedestrian access combined with high-speed motorists have prevented the area from becoming a vibrant downtown destination.
Seeking to attract more activity, a group of stakeholders met with town and county representatives at National Iron Bank Wednesday, Sept. 18. A pair of engineers from WMC, a firm that regularly consults on Cornwall projects, were also present.
The meeting was the fourth such discussion among Cornwall Bridge business owners and residents, but the first to include outside input. The group aimed to identify both short-term and long-term goals and solutions for “place making.”
First Selectman Gordon Ridgway provided information on the Transportation Rural Improvement Program (TRIP) grant that was awarded to the town for approximately $800,000. The funds will be used to improve walkability with sidewalk, crosswalk and flashing beacon installation in both Cornwall Bridge and West Cornwall. WMC Engineers is designing both projects.
The TRIP project is intended to slow traffic in both areas while improving walkability.
“The immediate thing that we’re working on right now is the traffic safety, pedestrian safety and biker safety,” said Ridgway, noting the short-term goals of the group.
Cornwall Package Store owner Richard Bramley said from his business he sees motorists running the stop sign on Route 7 daily, and the sheer number of near-miss accidents is alarming. Bramley suggested adding red legs to the stop signs to increase visibility.
Katherine Freygang, Cornwall resident and Sustainable CT representative, said there are more factors to consider beyond infrastructure improvements. She advocated for landscaping improvements and ornamental lighting to create a sense of place in Cornwall Bridge.
“When I go into Litchfield and I have these big trees around me I know I’m some place that I want to stay, whereas we have basically a highway access road,” said Freygang.
Tony Burke, Cornwall cyclist, pointed out that the Western New England Greenway runs right through Cornwall Bridge. Bikers can spend more than a week as they journey from Norwalk to Montreal and stop to patronize businesses along the entire route. He supported narrowing the driving lanes and reducing traffic speeds from 35 mph to 25 mph around the traffic triangle to better accommodate cyclists on the road.
Kathryn Faraci and Rista Malanca from the Northwest Hills Council of Governments were present to provide insight on programs available to achieve these goals. They said another round of TRIP funding will be awarded next year, and a second application could be submitted for Cornwall Bridge improvements.
“Moving forward, the TRIP awards will be more connectivity-based,” said Faraci. “Bringing in pedestrian traffic to a location that normally is not having any.”
Malanca suggested contacting a state group called Connecticut Main Street Center to provide additional insight. Cornwall is one of many Connecticut towns to struggle with a high-speed state road running through the middle of town, and the Main Street Center has experience addressing this dilemma.
Malanca also advocated for improving walking and cycling paths to increase tourism.
“Rural economies are based on outdoor recreation,” said Malanca. “If people walk or bike, they spend more money.”
At the end of the meeting, Steve McDonnell of WMC Engineers said his firm would draft up potential designs based on the Sept. 18 conversation. A follow-up meeting will be scheduled, likely in the winter, to continue the conversation on how to make Cornwall Bridge bustle.
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Telecom Reg’s Best Kept On the Books
When Connecticut land-use commissions update their regulations, it seems like a no-brainer to jettison old telecommunications regulations adopted decades ago during a short-lived period when municipalities had authority to regulate second generation (2G) transmissions prior to the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) being ordered by a state court in 2000 to regulate all cell tower infrastructure as “functionally equivalent” services.
It is far better to update those regs instead, especially for macro-towers given new technologies like small cells. Even though only ‘advisory’ to the CSC, the preferences of towns by law must be taken into consideration in CSC decision making. Detailed telecom regs – not just a general wish list -- are evidence that a town has put considerable thought into where they prefer such infrastructure be sited without prohibiting service that many – though not all – citizens want and that first responders rely on for public safety.
Such regs come in handy when egregious tower sites are proposed in sensitive areas, typically on private land. The regs are a town’s first line of defense, especially when cross referenced to plans of conservation and development, P&Z regulations, and wetlands setbacks. They identify how/where the town plans to intersect with the CSC process. They are also a roadmap for service providers regarding preferred sites and sometimes less neighborhood contention. In fact, to have no telecom regs can weaken a town’s rights to protect environmental, scenic, and historic assets, and serve up whole neighborhoods to unnecessary overlapping coverage and corporate overreach. Such regs are unique to every town and should not follow anyone else’s boiler plate, especially industry’s.
Connecticut is the only state that has a centralized siting entity for cell towers. The good news is that applicants must prove need for new tower sites in an evidentiary proceeding and any decisions have the weight of the state behind them. The bad news is that the CSC used to be far less industry-friendly and rote in their reviews, which now resemble a check list. There is an operative assumption at CSC that if an applicant wants a tower, they must need it, otherwise why spend significant money to run the approval gauntlet? This reflects a subtle shift over the years at CSC from sincere willingness to protect the environment toward minimal tweaking of bad applications with minor changes. The bottom line is that towns really cannot rely on the CSC to do all the work for them.
What CSC issues telecom providers is a “certificate of environmental compatibility” after an evidentiary proceeding (not unlike a court case) with intervenors, parties, expert witnesses, and the service provider’s technical pro’s sworn in and subject to cross examination. Service providers get to do the same with any opposition from intervenor/party participants – like towns and citizens -- and their experts. It’s an impressive process whose ultimate goal is the fine balancing between allowing adequate/reliable public services and protecting state ecology with minimal damage to scenic, historic, and recreational values. They unfortunately often fall short of their mandate – like approving cell towers with diesel generators over town aquifers -- evidenced by CSC only rejecting about five cell towers in the past 15-20 years.
The CSC was founded in 1972 and clarified its mission in the 1980’s to prevent the state from being carved up willy-nilly by gas pipelines, high tension corridors, and broadcast towers. With the sudden proliferation of cell towers beginning in late 1990’s, it became the most sued agency in Connecticut by both an arrogant upstart industry if applications were denied and by towns/citizens when bad sites were forced on them. CSC gradually formed a defensive posture that drives their decisions toward industry with deeper pockets and attorneys on retainer.
For citizens, nothing can wreck one’s day like the CSC. It behooves towns to protect what little toolkit they have, and understand the legal parameters of the CSC’s playing field. The CSC is not a “normal” government agency where municipal/citizen redress is based on logic and local support. Their process is largely immune to everything but specific kinds of evidence – like town regs with setbacks/fall zones, radio frequency transmission signal strengths, sensitive areas identified, and detailed wildlife inventory, among others.
There is a current cell tower fight involving two intervening towns -- Washington and Warren; both with good cell tower regs – over a tower site within 1200’ of a Montessori School, near Steep Rock’s nature preserves with comprehensive geology/wildlife databases that include endangered, threatened and special concern flora and fauna, on established federal/state migratory bird flyways, within throwing distance to a historic site capable of being listed on the Underground Railroad, and with an access road on a blind curve entering a state highway that will permanently damage wetlands, vernal pools, and core forests. There are well credentialed environmental experts, including Dr. Michael Klemens, former chair of Salisbury’s P&Z, as well as the former director of migratory bird management at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and an RF engineer testifying to alternative approaches, plus three attorneys representing intervenors. It is the most professional challenge I have seen at CSC since Falls Village successfully mounted one that protected Robbins Swamps several years ago.
The hearing is ongoing, with uncertain results. To see what it takes today to stop an inappropriate tower siting, see Docket #543 under “Pending Matters” at https://portal.ct.gov/csc before removing local cell tower regs – the lowest hanging fruit that any town can possess in case it’s needed.
B, Blake Levitt is the Communications Director at The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council. She writes about how technology affects biology.