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SHARON — Our mother, Sharon Dawn Gavel Church, a 78 year resident of Sharon, died with her daughters by her side on Friday, December 9 at the age of 82 in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Mom was born on May 13, 1940, in Canaan and raised by her loving parents, Alice Judd Wike Gavel and Paul Gavel. She was predeceased by half-siblings Helen Wike Humeston, Paula Gavel Weigel, and Edward Charles Wike, Jr. Mom graduated from Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Class of 1958. Remarkably she remained best friends for 76 years with her classmates from first grade, Constance Gilderdale, Edith Gorat, Dawn Kilmer, and Barbara McEnroe.
Mom worked at Berkshire Transformers in Kent before marrying our Dad, Alanson Church, in 1960 and starting their family. Mom worked tirelessly on their dairy farm while raising us four children and keeping a beautiful home. She worked at Sharon Hospital for 30 years and took great pride working in the OR where she touched the lives of many patients.
Mom loved being outside working in the gardens at home in her retirement years. She always spent her life immersed in nature. She fondly reflected on her ability even as a young child to sense when the change of season was upon us or rain and thunder was approaching. Mom marveled at all aspects of the natural world and gave gratitude to Mother Nature and all of her wondrous beauty.
Mom reminded us daily of what a wonderful childhood she had–how lucky she was to have grown up in the 50’s during what she considered the best time in history–neighbors caring for one another, taking pride in family, home, and country.
Mom is survived by her four children, Paul and his wife Linda, Joseph and his partner, Amy, Angela, and Elisabeth and her husband, Greg Garofalo; her five cherished grandchildren, Bianca and her husband Bob Narvaez, Oliver and his partner, Diana, twins Madeleine and Ian Cook, and Gabriela Garofalo; her precious great-grandchildren, Lucy and Ollie Rae Narvaez; her nieces, Donna Humeston Barlowe, Lynn Humeston, Donnalynn Weigel Dawson, and Lori Weigel Bruschi and nephews, Butch and Edward Weigel.
Mom was most thankful for her life and her four children. She will be returning to the land, her home, that she loved so on White Hollow Road; this was her greatest wish. In the end all there is only LOVE…Soar and fly high our beloved Mother until we are together again…
A private family service will be held in the Spring. Online remembrances may be made at www.armerfuneralhome.com
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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.