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AMENIA — The holiday season was celebrated with the help of Santa Claus, as well as with some genuine snowflakes, on the first bona fide day of winter weather this past Sunday in Amenia and Wassaic.
At the now 20-year-old tradition for the Amenia Free Library, the line went out the door in the early afternoon of Dec. 3, as parents and children lined up patiently for their picture with Santa Claus, as well as warm apple cider served by library board Treasurer Charlotte Murphy and home-baked goodies courtesy of the library’s board and staff.
“We’ve been coming here since I was a little kid,� said Cory Chinn, who now has a family of her own that she brought.
In Amenia, and then shortly after at the Wassaic firehouse, Santa and his elf helpers were a big hit. Children’s reactions ranged from nervous to giddy. Barbies and iPods were popular requests, although one girl wasn’t sure why she had to tell Santa what she wanted since she’d “already told Santa at the mall.�
A few holiday hopefuls even saved some of their more expensive gift suggestions for the big man himself, to the surprise of parents.
“I’d like a dirt bike,� announced 5-year-old Eugene Futrell to Santa. His mother raised her eyebrows skeptically upon hearing the news.
In Wassaic, the fire company and ladies auxiliary provided presents and hot cocoa for every child who met with Santa, made possible through the Toys for Tots program, explained Wassaic Fire Company President Nancy Luther.
Following the visits with Santa, both Amenia and Wassaic held separate tree-lighting ceremonies. At Fountain Square near the center of Amenia, Webelos Pack 29, celebrating the Boys Scouts’ 100th year, were selling handmade wreaths to raise funds for their activities.
“They work really hard to pay their own entrance to events and activities,� said pack leader Vicki Jasmin.
Raffle prizes were awarded at each of the ceremonies and holiday songs were sung. The Citizen of the Year awards were presented. Amenia’s Herb Eschbach was selected for his contributions to the upkeep of Fountain Square as well as his participation in veterans affairs on the county level, while Wassaic’s award went to Orpha Thomas, who for the past decade-and-a-half has been the president of the town’s senior citizens group.
The Christmas trees lit up as they have every year, after a countdown from those gathered around the holiday feature. Meanwhile, snow continued to fall lightly on the ground, marking the official start to Amenia’s holiday season.
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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.