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Stoddard cell tower proposal withdrawn
Posted: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 12:00 pm | Updated: 1:08 pm, Tue Jun 11, 2013.
STODDARD — A controversial proposal for a cell tower on Melville Hill has been scratched.
New Cingular Wireless (formerly AT&T Wireless) has withdrawn its application for the 130-foot tower after reaching an agreement with town officials on Friday, William Keyser, spokesman for AT&T in New England, said Monday.
The agreement came on the last day town and AT&T officials had to decide how they would proceed with a lawsuit filed by AT&T against the town.
“While we are confident the legal issues raised would have eventually been resolved in our favor, we decided to take the town of Stoddard up on its pledge to work with us in good faith on a possible future application,” Keyser said.
Keyser declined to reveal any details of that future application, including when it might be filed and where a tower might be located.
“At this point, I think we’re going to step back and take a little time to refocus our efforts. We’ll probably come back to the town at a later date,” he said.
In May 2011, Stoddard’s zoning board approved the application for the tower, 3-2.
After receiving multiple requests from residents to reconsider, the board agreed to do so in July of that year.
In August 2011, New Cingular Wireless filed a complaint against the town in U.S. District Court in Concord, alleging the town was in violation of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Federal Communication Commission’s Shot Clock Ruling.
The 2009 rule requires a local government to decide on cell tower projects “within a reasonable period of time” not to exceed 150 days. That time frame can be extended with the consent of the cell tower applicant.
In the complaint, New Cingular Wireless said the Stoddard zoning board wasn’t in compliance with the Shot Clock Rule after it decided to rehear the application. The rehearing made the May 2011 decision in favor of the project irrelevant.
New Cingular Wireless asked the court to uphold the board’s original decision and allow construction of the cell tower.
In addition to neighbors who objected to the cell tower, the Dakota Sioux tribe became involved because its members consider Melville Hill sacred ground, as it’s where the daughter of Dr. Charles A. Eastman, a Native American leader, is buried.
Stoddard resident John Cucchi, a friend of the tribe’s and an intervenor in the lawsuit, said he looks forward to telling members of the Dakota Sioux about the wireless company withdrawing the application.
Keyser said Melville Hill being a sacred site for the Sioux tribe was one of a number of concerns that factored into the company’s decision to withdraw the application.
“There were some zoning and litigation issues, some customer and network performance concerns and environmental issues,” he said. “All of those factors were taken as a whole, and brought us to this conclusion.”
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