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CORNWALL — Put into categories, land-use planning and clean energy led the way by far in Cornwall in 2010.
Cornwall continues to lead the nation in its commitment to clean energy. Last year brought the ribbon-cutting on a solar voltaic system at Cornwall Consolidated School and the installation of a system to use, and maybe exceed, energy needs at Town Hall.
The Energy Task Force earned a national award and launched its own website.
Just as dramatic, thanks to outspoken citizens concerned with the quality of life here, were a variety of land-use issues.
A proposed Incentive Housing Zone, which would have allowed a specific piece of property to be developed with its own zoning, was not approved. Both the Planning and Zoning Commission and the public remained uncertain about the whole approach, even after months of consideration and discussion.
After two years of work by a large percentage of town residents, a revised and workable Town Plan of Conservation and Development was completed. This state-mandated document forms the basis for the town’s planning and zoning regulations.
The Cornwall Housing Corporation appointed a separate board to oversee senior housing, as it moved forward with plans for an affordable senior housing complex.
Public interest brought the seating of a resurrected Conservation Commission and Committee on the Aging, as well as an economic study group, a possible forerunner to an economic development commission.
Grant funding was used for a facade grant for businesses to give themselves a sprucing up. Maps, brochures and uniquely crafted racks were made and installed in various spots around town, to promote tourism.
A hearing and eventual approval of a Verizon cell tower site above Popple Swamp brought expected interest and objections — and unexpected shock and anger over disrespect shown to residents by the state Siting Council.
Solar power was not the only excitement at Cornwall Consolidated. Successful sports teams, and fundraising events including a mother/daughter basketball game and a townwide effort to help Haitian earthquake victims were highlights of the school year. CCS alum Devon Root, working as a nurse in Haiti, offered a personal connection, and a heartfelt look at the disaster when she made a visit home and stopped by her alma mater with photos and stories of what she’d experienced.
Meanwhile, the school board dealt with emotional issues of school security and allegations of threats made to a teacher.
Culture in Cornwall included a wonderful series of events sponsored by the Cornwall Historical Society, now that its building renovations are complete. The Grumbling Gryphons celebrated its 30th anniversary with a party for the town.
Mixing culture and business was the Cornwall Farmer’s Market, growing again and threatening to overflow the Wish House lawn. It has featured everything from sales of grassfed beef to tai chi demonstrations.
Among the business changes was the opening of the Railroad Square Café and the relocation of Lady Audrey’s Gallery to Millerton. The Little Guild of St. Francis marked its 50th year, and hired a new director.
The “pink house� in West Cornwall remained in disrepair following a January 2008 fire. The property is mired in legal disputes between the owner and a preservation trust.
And with historic Rumsey Hall finally condemned, the town placed a lien on the property and then paid for the demolition of the historic and beloved but crumbling building.
Other legal issues included the arrest of the town’s recreation director for embezzling from a regional soccer club. She also admitted taking town recreation fee payments.
Two fishermen from out of the area were arrested by the state Department of Environmental Protection for using a boat with a motor on Cream Hill Lake.
A Route 63 motor vehicle accident killed a Goshen man. His dog, Hannah, a loveable golden retriever, spent a week at the town garage, happily riding shotgun on plowtrucks until family members could take her home. The touching story was featured on television news (as well as in this newspaper).
As the year ended, the selectmen found themselves in a legal battle over alleged misconduct with town funds by the road crew foreman. But the town again showed its community spirit: Everyone in town rallied behind the Scoville family, after a New Year’s Eve fire took one of their historic barns. Funds were raised, and a new barn has been built.
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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.