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100 years ago — December 1922
William Tolliver while out fox hunting on Tuesday of last week had the misfortune to break a finger in his right hand, caused by his horse rearing suddenly.
The “shortest” days of the year are approaching and according to the old timers, the weather may soon be expected to become more severe.
Messrs. Robert Scoville and W.B. Rand are spending a few days in Chicago attending the International Live Stock Exposition.
50 years ago — December 1972
While Falls Village is taking a good look at a possible new landfill site one state official has suggested the town view it as a potential site for surrounding towns as well. Selectmen this week named an eight-member committee to view the 70-acre Stewart McMillan farm as potential multi-use municipal property. Face to face negotiations with Mr. McMillan, now a Carolina resident, are due to commence around Dec. 20. The town is under pressure to find a new site because the current landfill, which adjoins the farm, is just about filled up. Other prospective sites have “fallen through” during the course of a two-year search.
An old name will soon appear in a new location in Lakeville. The private road by the new headquarters of the Salisbury Bank and Trust Co. has been named Bissell Street, with Mr. and Mrs. Roswell “Hop” Rudd as winners of the contest sponsored by the bank. The name is doubly appropriate. In Lakeville, Bank President John Rogers points out many streets bear the names of prominent old local families; but until now the Bissell name has not been honored in this way. In addition, the property on which the new building stands was once the site of the home of Dr. Will Bissell, and the house which was moved back to make way for the new construction was his home. Dr. Will was the son of Dr. William Bissell, who was known affectionately as “the old doctor” and for whom the Dr. William Bissell Fund is named.
The Lakeville Journal has been designated a “National Blue Ribbon Newspaper” for 1973 by the National Editorial Foundation, Washington, D.C. In announcing the designation, Foundation President George Wortley III, Fayetteville, N.Y., noted that The Journal was one of only 144 newspapers to achieve this designation in a nationwide program open to all newspapers.
— The natural beauties and the serenity of life in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut have now been immortalized in song by Carole King, popular songwriter and recording star. In her recently released single, Canaan, Miss King tells of her appreciation for the green fields and rolling hills that surround her recently purchased home in Falls Village.
—No objections were lodged during Monday night’s brief hearing at Town Hall on Leslie Jacobs’ application for a license to continue operation of Jacobs’ Garage in the village center. Joe Jacobs Sr. operated a car dealership and garage service for 40 years until his death last winter, and Les has continued the operation since then.
25 years ago — December 1997
FALLS VILLAGE — Bill Holcomb, 86, was in his house Tuesday morning eating breakfast when the fire began. At first he thought it might be coming from his wood stove, but soon realized the flames were coming from under the floor. “I tried to get out, but the door was stuck,” he said. “I had to dive through the fire and kick the door to get out. I got in my truck and drove to T-Bows store as fast as I could to call it in, but my neighbors had already called.”
SHARON — A lone bank robber brandished a handgun at a New Milford Savings Bank branch office in the Route 41 shopping plaza early Saturday morning and made off with more than $1,400 in cash. The unidentified robber is still at large and police seek the public’s help in his apprehension.
— The recent theft of a rare book has left book dealer Barbara Farnsworth shaking her head in disappointment. The owner of the antiquarian bookstore in West Cornwall is missing a copy of a first edition of James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” #534 of 1,000 copies printed in Paris for Shakespeare and Company in 1922.
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Lakeville Journal and The Journal does not support or oppose candidates for public office.
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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.