File Photo
Residents of Rose Hill Road who opposed cell tower construction in their neighborhood can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now. AT&T has withdrawn an application to build a 134-foot cell tower in the Branford Hills area of town.
AT&T attorney Christopher Fisher sent a letter Thursday to the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC), which has jurisdiction over cell tower placement. Fisher requesting that the application be withdrawn without prejudice, which means it may be re-submitted.
Fisher’s letter said the company made the decision “for various business reasons,” but further stated that “an application for this or similar facility will be applied for in the future.”
Melanie Bachman, the acting executive director of the CSC, told the Eagle it is not unusual for cell companies to “take a second look” at their business cycles and withdraw an application.
Bachman said the CSC was prepared to vote Thursday on a public hearing date for this cell tower until it received the letter earlier that day from Fisher. She said the council had made arrangements with Branford to hold the public hearing July 28, but that will no longer be necessary.
Bachman said AT&T may re-submit the application but said “they’ll have to start all over again from square-one.”
AT&T was proposing the tower be built on property owned by Paul Santa Barbara at 45 Rose Hill Road. The property is zoned commercial and is used as part of Santa Barbara’s dumpster rental, refuse and recycling services.
The tower would have been a monopole design that could accommodate three other service providers in addition to AT&T. A steady red beacon light would have been mounted on the tower because of the proximity to Tweed Airport.
Neighbors Said No Need for New Tower
About 40 people attended an informational meeting in March when AT&T and Tower Co presented their plans. Click here to read that story.
Residents said they had plenty of cell coverage and did not need the tower. “We are 100 percent against this tower,” Jackson Pierre-Louis said at the March meeting. “We do not want it. We do not need it.”
Attorney Fisher’ power point presentation was interrupted by one man who shouted: “I’ve got service every day.”
However, Fisher said it wasn’t a lack of service; it was the increasing demand for more data use on smart phones.
The formal application, which was filed with the CSC in May, said the tower was needed to boost the 4G LTE network and to fill coverage gaps along Route 142 (Short Beach Road), West Main Street, I-95, Burban Drive Alps Road, and other unspecified roads in Branford and East Haven.
Neighbors at the March meeting complained the tower would have negative impacts on health, safety, property values, the environment and migratory flyways. The neighborhood is not far from the Beacon Hill Land Preserve. Residents later signed a petition outlining their concerns.
Short Beach Road Tower
There were serious gaps in cell coverage in the Short Beach area of Branford and also in adjacent areas of East Haven before AT&T built a 120-foot tower in 2013 at 171 Short Beach Road. AT&T had proposed building a tower in either Branford or East Haven and public hearings were held on both proposals. The CSC chose the Branford site, despite objections from neighbors and the town.
When the CSC approved the Short Beach tower in December 2012, it was the third tower approved for Branford in less than three years, including a 125-foot tower on Pine Orchard Road, and a 109-foot tower on Leetes Island Road. A request for a 160-foot tower on Pleasant Point Road was withdrawn and was not re-submitted.
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