Efforts to erect a temporary AT&T wireless antenna on Chappaquiddick moved forward last week. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) voted 8 to 1 to approve the tower, with several conditions, following a public hearing last Thursday night.
The MVC is reviewing the tower as a development of regional impact (DRI). The vote came at the conclusion of the second of two public hearings at which Edgartown town officials and a number of Chappy residents once again faced off against a small but vocal group of opponents, primarily homeowners on Sampson Avenue, where the antenna will be located.
The powerful permitting board put a one-year time limit on the temporary antenna, which will begin when the special permit is issued by the Edgartown building inspector. The MVC also agreed that an additional carrier could install an antenna inside the monopole tower without going before the commission, provided it didn’t change the tower’s exterior appearance. Currently, the tower will house antennae that will transmit calls only for T-Mobile and AT&T subscribers.
AT&T area manager Kevin Mason told commissioners that Verizon had inquired about installing an antenna, but that no formal discussions had taken place.
The commission also voted to recommend that the Edgartown planning board require an escrow fund from AT&T that would cover the cost of dismantling the tower, if the telecommunications giant did not do so after the mandated one-year period.
The temporary antenna will be be 104 feet tall and 24 inches in diameter, supported by three guy wires, and surrounded by a six-foot fence. It will be installed on a half-acre, nonconforming residential lot at 14 Sampson Avenue owned by Bob Fynbo, owner of Chappaquiddick Wireless Internet Service Provider (Chappy WISP). Mr. Fynbo already has an 85-foot antenna on his property, which he installed 34 years ago for Chappy WISP. His tower will remain standing.
At the conclusion of the initial DRI public hearing on April 7, the commission voted to delay a decision until a site visit could be made on Monday, April 11.
At the second hearing, commissioner Linda Sibley reported on the visit. “The surprising thing for all of us was that you really couldn’t see this thing except when we were very close to it,” she said. “We went to Dike Bridge, Mytoi [Gardens], and many other locations, and we could not find a public vista where you could see this thing. But I can appreciate that the neighbors will see it.”
Her comment elicited a collective groan from the half-dozen opponents of the project.
“It’s all very vague; we don’t know what we’re getting ourselves into,” Sampson Avenue resident Molly Pickett said. “There’s no environmental impact statement and no alternative technology in that proposal. I’m not trusting of this [proposal], and I think there’s a lot of holes.”
“I’m highly opposed, I don’t want to look at it and I don’t want to see it looming over my backyard,” Chappaquiddick Road resident Dana Stayton said. “I understand the need, but it’s a disgrace to put it in our neighborhood. There are issues about health. I don’t want my children playing under a tower. You don’t want those rays going through our population.”
Ms. Stayton said that the tower should be placed on public land, such as the Chappy Community Center. She also questioned how much money Mr. Fynbo would make from the deal, and if the tower would indeed be temporary.
Robert Strayton reiterated his wife’s concerns and spoke at length with a wide range of objections. “As an AT&T shareholder, I resent AT&T spending $1 million to install a $200,000 tower,” he said. “There are many more Verizon subscribers in this areas who won’t be able to use this tower; it does not provide the benefit we are seeking.”
Citing an article from Outside magazine, Mr. Strayton also argued that, contrary to the prevailing wisdom of the project’s supporters, the increased cell signal would have an adverse effect on public safety. “People who know they have a cell phone signal will engage in more risky behavior,” he said. Mr. Strayton argued that a distributed antenna system (DAS) system would boost the signal for all cell phone subscribers, not just AT&T and T-Mobile.
Edgartown information technology director Adam Darack spoke to Mr. Strayton’s objections. “The Chappy community was against giving up town land at the community center,” he said. “Given the lower elevation, it would require a tower of 180 feet to provide the same coverage.” Mr. Darack said a DAS system had been exhaustively researched. A group of engineers from Verizon had already concluded that a DAS system was neither feasible nor cost-effective, and pulled up stakes.
“DAS is not quite as wonderful as people think it is,” Ms. Sibley said. “It also has its own infrastructure needs. We’d need poles along the beach to carry the signal as far as this antenna does. Chappy went to great effort to put the utilities underground. DAS would mean putting the poles back, and then some.”
Mr. Darack also pointed out that AT&T is the provider for both the Edgartown Police Department and the Edgartown Fire Department.
“We really luck out that our emergency responders use AT&T,” he said.
“Our reception is nil on Chappy,” Edgartown Police Chief Dave Rossi said. “Just the ability to communicate is going to be a big improvement for public safety. We’ll get there quicker, and we can do our jobs better.”
Mary Spencer, 20-year Chappy resident and seasonal employee for The Trustees of Reservations, said she was initially against a tower, but she changed her mind last summer. “I was working at Dike Bridge, closing up for the day, and I could hear someone on East Beach calling for help,” she said. “The man had been caught in a rip tide on a paddleboard. He’d been in the water a long time, and he was hypothermic. The ranger’s radio didn’t work. I was able to call on my cell phone because I was at the very edge of the reception range. If that guy had been a quarter-mile down the beach, it would have been a completely different outcome. He got lucky twice.”
The commissioners acknowledged that the impact on abutters and scenic impact were detriments of the project, but the strong support of Edgartown town officials and first responders, along with a number of year-round Chappy residents, carried more weight.
Commissioners John Breckenridge of Oak Bluffs, Christina Brown of Edgartown, Robert Doyle of Chilmark, Josh Goldstein of Tisbury, Fred Hancock of Oak Bluffs, Lenny Jason representing the County Commission, Linda Sibley of West Tisbury, and chairman Jim Vercruysse of Aquinnah voted in favor.
Commissioner Ernie Thomas of West Tisbury cast the only vote against the antenna.
