Latest News
Auto Repair
Blinds
Building/Remodeling
Floor Refinishing
Insulation
Landscaping
Landscaping
Lightning Rods
Moving
Overhead Doors
There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow
There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow
The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye
And it looks like it’s climbing clear up to the sky
Oh! what a beautiful mornin’
Oh! what a beautiful day
—Rodgers & Hammerstein
This time of year, every year, is a source of wonder, wonder at the number and kinds of activities available for us all to partake in and enjoy. Our print calendar (p. B4) is but a sampler—art shows, concerts, festivals, car shows, road races, live theater, bike races, house and garden tours, book readings, farmers’ markets, there really is something for everyone around here.
Last weekend, for example, Wanda Houston and The HBH Band—Kris Jensen, Scott Heth, Jay Bradley, and Rich Syracuse—delivered their unique jazz take on traditional and contemporary standards. At Music Mountain in Falls Village, for nearly two hours, they effortlessly moved from Cole Porter to Hank Williams to Roberta Flack and The Beatles and blew the room away.
And Wanda of course is simply wandaful.
Earlier that day, across the border in Millerton, the town had its afternoon Summer Stroll around Main Street, complete with a marching brass band, wine tastings, lemonade and face painting for the kids and sales at various businesses along the way. This was followed by a free concert at Eddie Collins Park, where the Steve Dunn Band did the musical honors. Food trucks, a petting zoo, games for kids, and beautiful weather made this an excellent family outing.
But in addition to all the wonderfully satisfying small-town fun we have to enjoy, some seriously important developments are taking place now, sometimes below the surface, an impressive assortment of investments in our future from both the private and public sectors.
Here’s just a few that have been covered in these pages: Lime Rock’s ambitious plans to take the park to a new level; West Cornwall’s plans to undertake a major sewer project; the hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in the expansion of Camp Isola Bella; the investment in broadband here by Comcast, Frontier and the federal government; the funding of a $5.4 million federally qualified health care center in North Canaan; and the opening of the Norfolk Music Shed after a $10 million dollar renovation; Millbrook’s plans to redo significant stretches of sidewalk have been approved by the Dutchess County Department of Planning & Development; the Stissing Center in Pine Plains has undergone one renovation and will close again for a second multimillion dollar renovation; Pine Plains is now likely to get a major solar project; the Webutuck High School auditorium renovation is complete; Amenia is planning a major water project; and Millerton/North East is about to embark on a multimillion dollar sewer project.
It’s gratifying to think that our communities will robust enough going forward to be able to support the activities we hold dear for a long time to come.
Related Stories
Get Local News Delivered To Your Inbox
Subscribe to receive stories reported for, by, and about our neighbors, on the issues affecting you.
By signing up you agree to our
privacy policy
.
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.