Verizon Cell Tower Proposed in Keene, NH

MICHAEL MOORE / Sentinel Staff

Posted: Tuesday, August 7, 2012 12:15 pm | Updated: 11:42 am, Tue Aug 7, 2012.

By Jacqueline Palochko Sentinel Staff | 7 comments

Next month, the City Council will decide whether to lease land for a nearly 100-foot cell tower on Keene-owned conservation land.
Verizon Wireless wants to expand its wireless coverage, and says for that to be done, a tower needs to be built in the forested area on Beech Hill.
Verizon would have to get relief from city ordinances that intend to keep that land in its natural state.

AT&T Tries for Another Cell Tower

Cell tower pitched in Antrim

Group already trying for one in Stoddard

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Posted: Sunday, March 4, 2012 8:00 am | Updated: 7:53 am, Sun Mar 4, 2012.

By Abby Spegman Sentinel Staff | 0 comments

ANTRIM — The group trying to put a cell tower in Stoddard has applied with the local planning board to put another tower on Smith Road in Antrim.

New Cingular Wireless and AT&T Mobility Corp. have applied for a special exception for the installation, operation and maintenance of a personal wireless service facility, or a cell tower, in a rural district.

The AT&T cell tower resistance continues...

Stoddard now dealing with lawsuit

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Posted: Sunday, October 2, 2011 9:00 am | Updated: 8:26 am, Sun Oct 2, 2011.

By Sarah Trefethen Sentinel Staff | 4 comments

STODDARD — With a federal lawsuit hanging over its head, the town’s zoning board is poised to resume operation after a spate of resignations that left it out of commission back in July.

That likely means once again taking up a proposal to construct a cellphone tower on Melville Hill, with a board that features three new

Three Stoddard Zoning Board Members and Three Alternates Resign

As reported in the Keene Sentinel (NH) July 28: 

By Sarah Trefethen Sentinel Staff | 1 comment

STODDARD — Zoning business is temporarily on hold in this town of a little more than 2,000 residents.

Applications for variances and exceptions to the zoning code, for now at least, can only stack up.

The problem? Three of the five members of Stoddard’s zoning board have resigned, along with all three alternates, according to Patricia Putnam, who resigned as both an alternate board member and the board secretary and still serves as the selectmen’s administrative assistant.

Without a quorum of board members, no application can be approved.

The zoning board has been busy lately, particularly while considering a controversial application from AT&T for permission to build a cellphone tower on Melville Hill.

The board was under considerable pressure from residents of Stoddard and neighboring Nelson to reject the application, and held hearings and deliberations on the matter for several months.

The board voted on May 25 to allow a 130-foot monopole tower, but on Thursday of last week board members decided to reconsider the application.

Resignation letters followed, delivered to town hall the next day.

Fred and Ruth Ward, the two board members who voted against the AT&T tower, are the only people associated with the board who have not resigned.

Beverly Power, the board’s chairwoman, resigned, as did Richard Betz, Maureen Meyer and alternates Nancy Robinson and Richard Briere.

Stoddard ZBA votes for re-hearing of AT&T Cell Tower Decision & then several members resign!

Strange happenings in Stoddard, NH these days.

Last week, on Thursday, July 21, the Stoddard Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) voted 5-0 for a re-hearing of the AT&T cell tower request, which had been approved 3-2 on May 25. (See minutes of this meeting here --they're very strange....)

Then, on Friday, it was learned that all three ZBA members who had voted in AT&T's favor (chairman Bev Power along with Maureen Meyer, and Richard Betz) had submitted their resignations to the Selectmen of Stoddard, leaving only Fred and Ruth Ward, who voted against AT&T's request for a cell tower on Melville Hill, which stands high over the pristine lake community of Granite Lake.

Yesterday it was discovered that not only had Power, Meyer, and Betz resigned, but the three alternate ZBA members as well. Which makes some of us wonder what's going on....

Stoddard Conservation Commission Chairman Calls ZBA "Incompetent" in Letter to Keene Sentinel re AT&T Cell Tower Decision

Letter by Geoff Jones, Stoddard Conservation Commission Chairman, to the Keene Sentinel:

In the fall of 2010, AT&T approached the Stoddard ZBA for a special exception to place a cell tower on Melville Hill that provides the grand backdrop to Granite Lake.  When the residents of Granite Lake and the conservation commission learned about the proposal, they were naturally concerned.  A 200 foot tower would mar the summit of Melville Hill and undermine the conservation values of abutting protected lands that bordered the site on three sides.  There was nothing about the AT&T plan to locate a tower on Melville Hill that made economic, engineering or environmental sense. 

Granite Lake Residents Appeal AT&T Decision by Stoddard Zoning Board & Consider Lawsuit Against Chair

A number of appeals have been filed by Stoddard residents contesting the Stoddard Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) decision to grant AT&T a Special Exception to construct a cell tower on Melville Hill, overlooking Granite Lake and the village of Munsonville, NH.  A group of Stoddard residents are also considering a lawsuit against the ZBA Chair. 

Citing bias and conflict of interest on the part of ZBA Chair Beverly Power, an owner of Pitcher Mountain Realty in Stoddard, as well as other concerns, the residents' appeals have resulted in a special meeting being called by the ZBA on Thursday, July 21 at 7 p.m. in the Stoddard Town Hall to consider undertaking a rehearing of the cell tower case. This meeting is open to the public, although they will not be allowed to speak.