AT&T's Second Balloon Test: The Same as the First!

On March 4, between the hours of 8 a.m. and noon, AT&T conducted a second balloon test on Melville Hill that was, according to them, on a different, lower part of landowner Nicholas J.Healy's property and going to hide the proposed cell tower from being silhouetted against the sky high above Granite Lake.

This, however, did not happen. We were shocked to see that balloon test one (taken November 21, 2010) and balloon test two were almost identical. Here they are:

Mmmm...we're puzzled. How does this help anything?!

The next cell tower hearing is scheduled for April 19. This has been going on now for six months...

Minutes of the Stoddard Board of Adjustment 2/25/11 re AT&T Proposed Cell Tower

Members Attending: Beverly Power, Fred Ward, Ruth Ward and Richard Betz.  Excused was Maureen Meyer.

Correspondence:  Various and numerous emails concerning AT&T Cell Tower Application....

New Business: Beverly Power went over some of the legal advice that Sam Bradley emailed to her and the members.  The board had a lengthy discussion on the contents of that confidential letter. 

Fred Ward asked if the Balloon Test, scheduled for March 4 - 5 or 6, 2011, depending on weather conditions could be cancelled.  Beverly Power said the balloon test has been posted and published and will be held.  Fred Ward felt the balloon test was premature. 

Keene Sentinel: Cell Tower Getting Cool Reception

Stoddard floats plan for more, smaller facilities

By Sarah Trefethen
Sentinel Staff

Published: Tuesday, February 22, 2011

STODDARD — The debate between residents and AT&T over how to deliver cell phone service to this hilly collection of hamlets rages on.

The town’s zoning board is considering an application from the wireless company to bring a single 150-foot cell tower to the top of Melville Hill, overlooking Granite Lake.

The board wants the company to consider using multiple smaller towers instead, but so far the company has not considered such a proposal.

To the Stoddard ZBA from Richard Nicoletti re the Feb.15 Hearing on AT&T's Proposed Cell Tower

Re: Alice: "It would be so nice if something made sense for a change." Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, for this and other "Alice" quotes in this email.

Dear Members of the ZBA,

Everybody who has attended any of the public meetings you have had regarding ATT's petition knows how diligently you have struggled to connect the seemingly contradictory words about ATT's "targeted coverage area" coming from both the written words of its original petition and from the spoken words of its professionals.  [Alice: "I think I should understand that better, if I had written that down: but I can't quite follow it as you say it."]

Stoddard Conservation Commission Recommendation re AT&T's Proposal to Build a Cell Tower on Melville Hill

The Stoddard Conservation Commission recommends that the preferred site of Melville Hill be denied in favor of sites that offer the citizens of Stoddard better coverage and that is less destructive to the conservation and aesthetic values of the town…and has a more favorable cost to benefit ratio.

Geoffrey Jones
Chairman, Stoddard Conservation Commission

AT&T Rejects Stoddard ZBA's Efforts to Find Alternate Cell Tower Sites

The Stoddard Zoning Board of  Adjustment (ZBA) hearings regarding AT&T's proposal to build a cell phone tower on top of Melville Hill, overlooking Granite Lake, NH, continued on Tuesday, February 15 at 7 p.m.

ZBA secretary Patricia Putnam's notes on the hearing can be found here.

Margaret Schillemat, a town of  Nelson Selectman, was present and her letter from the Nelson Board of Selectmen opposing the AT&T proposed cell tower site on Melville Hill, was noted. (See her letter in the last post.)

The Granite lake area is unique in that it includes both the towns of Stoddard and Nelson. Nelson residents on the south side of Granite Lake currently pay a considerable "view tax" for looking directly at the lake and the

Nelson Board of Selectmen Oppose Proposed AT&T Cell Tower over Granite Lake

This letter was sent to the Stoddard Zoning Board of Adjustment regarding AT&T's proposed cell tower on Melville Hill, which would loom over Granite Lake: 


Dear Chairperson Power,

     I am writing as a member of the Nelson Board of Selectmen who have passed a resolution supporting my statement herein. I understand the Nelson Conservation Commission will be similarly writing you.
     Granite Lake is a most valuable resource for both Nelson and Stoddard. We feel the above proposal would be especially harmful to the lake, both ecologically and aesthetically. Moreover, we worry it could