This article by Anna Merriman was published by the Valley News on Sept. 20.
THETFORD — After months of input from town officials and residents, AT&T is evaluating several new spots for proposed cellphone towers in Thetford and Chelsea that will stretch more than 100 feet above the treeline.
In Thetford, the company is planning a balloon test on Sept. 28, to examine potential locations for a tower within the town, including one site on Pero Hill Road where a Wavecomm Communications tower is currently, and the other in the northeast section of the town forest.
From 9 a.m. to noon that morning, AT&T will raise balloons 190 feet in the air from each location and take photos of the result, which will be used to generate simulations of the proposed tower.
The company will compare the simulations from the two sites to a previous location off 121 Sawnee Bean Road, where AT&T had originally planned to build the tower.
Company officials announced that original plan in late April, saying the Thetford tower would improve cellular reception near routes 113 and 132 as part of the First Responder Network Authority, a federally funded project to create a national network for public safety responders.
But they quickly got pushback from residents.
Many worried about the look of the tower — which would reach 120 feet above the treeline — so close to Thetford Center, and the potential negative environmental impact at that location.
Though town officials did not take an official position in support of or against a tower, they suggested the Thetford Town Forest location as an alternative.
Thetford officials also convinced AT&T to sign a “tolling agreement” with the town, which put a pause on the company’s application for approval by the Vermont Public Utility Commission, according to minutes from a July 20 Selectboard meeting.
The agreement gave AT&T time to assess the town forest suggestion and three other sites as alternatives to the Sawnee Bean Road location, according to the minutes.
AT&T spokeswoman Megan Daley said the company is reviewing the “primary sites as well as the alternative sites” for both Thetford and Chelsea.
Thetford Selectboard Chairman Nick Clark declined to answer questions about the project or potential locations.
AT&T is not at the balloon-test stage for the Chelsea tower, but company officials are considering several different locations, according to Chelsea Planning Commission Chairman Dickson Corbett.
In late April, the company proposed building a 199-foot tower set back around 1,000 feet from 11 Riverside Drive in Chelsea, on land owned by a Georgia-based organization, Affordable Housing America, not far from the intersection of routes 110 and 113.
Though the Chelsea proposal didn’t receive the same pushback as the one in Thetford, some residents and town officials raised concerns about the tower’s environmental impact and whether it would adequately provide service to the whole town.
Residents and town officials discussed other potential locations to suggest to AT&T, including a section of town-owned land on Baraw Hill, near a water tower that’s currently at the location, according to minutes from an Aug. 18 Selectboard meeting.
Officials are interested in having the tower built on town-owned land because of the income the town could get from rental costs, Corbett said on Friday. The Baraw Hill location, for instance, could bring in $3,600 a month, according to the minutes.
However, building the tower on a town-owned site is not a guarantee; AT&T is currently looking at several potential sites for the Chelsea tower, and the town expects to hear back within the next few weeks, Corbett said.
“The range of possibilities is so broad,” he added.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.
