Select board chair Andy Cunningham told attendees at Tuesday's public
hearing that the purpose of the amendment was to "facilitate the use of
cell phone reception in The Valley, which if you live here, you know is
fairly spotty."
Cunningham said that cellular phone companies would like to put a
permanent tower at the top of Sugarbush Village Road; the tower would
replace the current temporary tower located in the 22-acre site on
Inferno Road.
"I'm assuming it's going to be a lot better after this," he continued.
BOUNDARY MODIFIED
The amendment essentially allows the boundary line of the Sugarbush
residential district to be modified to accommodate new cellular antennas
on or within existing tower locations by streamlining the review
process for similar applications.
Cunningham said that the installation of a new tower at the top of
Sugarbush Village Road may increase reception in the village area but is
unlikely to account for any change or increase in reception along the
Route 100 corridor.
The boundary adjustment will make the forest reserve district larger,
according to engineers from Verizon Wireless. The immediate reason for
the change is that the land that is currently at the boundary of the two
districts, while it is zoned for towers, is actually in bear habitat.
@SUBHEAD = STREAMLINE
Engineers were present to ask the select board to move the boundary line
down a couple hundred feet so the towers are outside the bear habitat;
in addition, engineers said they were asked to consult town officials at
the urging of the town's zoning administrator to streamline the
process.
The idea, according to engineers, is that once there is coverage from
the proposed site at the ski area, there will be a second site built on
an existing building in the village. Under the current zoning, a tower
could not be built on that site.
Cunningham said that the "select board is behind this, the planning
commission has looked at it, the zoning administrator has spoken with us
about it and we're tuned into what's going on."
"It's always good to see better communications," he continued.
POTENTIAL RANGE
When asked about the potential range of the new tower, engineers
told town officials that the original design is pretty limited to the
ski area; the new tower will cover most of the access road down to Route
100 but will not cover the Warren area due to terrain block.
Representatives from Verizon said that they are investigating the
possibility of using a repeater at the Warren Village church site or
looking into a micro site solution, but the assessment cannot be made
until they can evaluate the coverage from the proposed tower in
Sugarbush Village.
Engineers told select board members that they plan on filing the
application shortly and have several abutters to notify beforehand.
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