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MILLBROOK — “I always thought I was going to be a singer, but on stage is when I realized it was something that just felt like home. That’s when I realized it was what I wanted to pursue as a career,” Erika Cole said.Cole is a 22-year-old aspiring singer from Stanfordville whose family is from Millbrook. Cole’s parents and grandparents grew up in the village; her grandmother, Wilma Cole, was the town clerk for the Town of Washington for many years.Cole is moving to Nashville, Tenn., at the end of the month to start her career as a singer.Cole’s love for music started when she became involved with musical theater at Stissing Mountain High School in Pine Plains. During her junior year she played the lead in “Aida,” a role that Cole said made her want to become a professional singer.Cole was also involved with the TriArts Sharon Playhouse, a local community theater in Sharon.“I have been doing the Diva shows there for about five years,” said Cole. “I adore TriArts. That’s where I have been performing a lot locally.”After high school, Cole attended Berklee College of Music, in Boston, where she majored in vocal performance and minored in English. Cole was selected as the class speaker for her graduating class, which is a prestigious honor. “Country music is what I love and it’s kind of how I identify myself,” Cole said. “At Berklee I had to take jazz, R&B, pop and rock. They really pushed you to try different thing so you have a lot under your belt. I have been able to incorporate some of those influences with what I do. I love country, but I have a love for blues as well. I do a country and blues mix. I’m really glad I found that balance.”Cole said she doesn’t label herself to a specific genre, but believes that a singer can have a lot of different genres and one focus.Cole writes her songs and co-writes music. She also plays basic cord on guitar and piano. She describes writing songs as a universal diary; she pulls from experiences that can be relatable to everyone.“My extended play (EP) that I just released is called ‘Home to Me,’ ” Cole said. “It’s about growing up in a small town and that one can travel all over the world, but one identifies with their home roots. Home can be anywhere, but your roots are very strong.”Cole plans to pitch herself as a background vocalist in Nashville while also playing her own songs with her piano player, who is also located in Nashville. Cole said she hopes to form a band and start playing live and eventually become a recording artist.Although Cole has big plans for the future, she said she enjoys things such as do-it-yourself art projects, gardening, autumn activities, blogging and eating at the Millbrook Diner. Cole gave a little advice to local youth about following their dreams.“It’s scary and it’s alright to acknowledge that it’s scary,” Cole said. “If you have a dream, you can’t limit yourself. The motto I live my life by is ‘don’t wonder what if,’ because you can’t live your life by ‘well, what if that happened.’ ”To find out more about Erika Cole, you can find her music on iTunes, on www.erikacolemusic.com, or pick up a copy of her “Home to Me” album at Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook.
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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.