Cell tower hearing continues to Aug. 11

KENT — The Connecticut Siting Council held a public hearing via Zoom on Thursday, July 23, regarding two possible sites for 154-foot AT&T cell phone towers in Kent — one on Bald Hill Road (Map 10, Block 22, Lot 38) and one at 93 Richards Road. The towers would be built by Homeland Towers.

The first part of the hearing was evidentiary, with council members asking questions of AT&T representatives.

Among the questions: Would using a tower designed to look like a tree work?

The answer was not at Richards Road, but possibly at Bald Hill Road — a two-tone tower, with the lower section painted a gray-brown color to blend in with the woods and the upper section painted sky blue.

Asked which site AT&T would prefer, the answer was that both sites have advantages and disadvantages and that either would do.

The evening session was devoted to public comment. 

Joseph Dwyer of Segar Mountain Road said he has no cell coverage at all and would welcome it “if it can be done in a less obtrusive way.”

Michael Jay of Kent Hollow said the proposal is “just the tip of the iceberg,” the iceberg being a plan to install several more towers in the Kent area.

Alan Gawel, communications officer for the Kent Volunteer Fire Department, said “We are concerned for aesthetics” but added that emergency services require dependable communications, which are “desperately needed.”

The proposal includes equipment for town emergency services communications equipment to be installed on the tower at either site, at no cost to the town.

Fire chief Ed Matson (who is also a Kent selectman) echoed Gawel’s sentiments.

B. Blake Levitt of Warren, who is also on the Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council, said the Richards Road tower would spoil the view and interfere with a migratory bird pathway.

The evidentiary hearing was continued to Aug. 11. Members of the public can listen in but can not make comments. For more information on this and other documents, meetings and hearings regarding the proposed cell tower, go to the of Kent website at www.townofkentct.org and, using the docket number provided there, follow the links there to the state Siting Council website.

Meanwhile, at a special meeting of the Kent Board of Selectmen on July 17, the board discussed an alternative plan involving “small cell technology” along Route 341 and nearby roads.

The board had already submitted the plan to the Siting Council the day before, on July 16. In the submitted materials, First Selectman Jean Speck wrote that public reaction to the Bald Hill or Richards Road proposal was largely negative.

“The Board is convinced that a minimal number of small cells, implementing current technology, would solve the proposed coverage gap presented by AT&T in the least intrusive manner to the environment and viewsheds of Kent, Warren and the surrounding communities.”