In Stoddard, ways of life collide
No decision yet on proposed cell tower
In Stoddard, ways of life collide
Peering out the window of the Cucchi residence in Munsonville Thursday toward Granite Lake and a proposed cell tower are, from left, Stephen D. Anderson, representing AT&T, Nadine M. Peterson, of the N.H. Division of Historical Resources and Buzz McLaughlin of Stoddard.
Posted: Friday, May 6, 2011 12:15 pm | Updated: 11:54 am, Fri May 6, 2011.
STODDARD — Many rules govern the construction of cellphone towers, from local ordinances to federal legislation to courtroom precedents.
There are rules that consider a project’s impacts on historical sites, communication infrastructure and local property values.
But no one rule seems to get to the heart of what bothers Granite Lake residents who have for months resisted AT&T’s plans to build a tower on Stoddard’s Melville Hill, in a location that would be visible across the lake.
Lifelong Stoddard resident Marline J. Leotta says she’s not against technology, but balks at the idea of such a prominent incursion of modern life into the lake’s landscape of rolling green hills and small wooden docks that jut into the sparkling water.
“We need places for the soul to feel free,” she said Thursday, standing near the lake shore in Nelson. “I want it to be a place where you can come and think about nature, not mankind and its squabbles.”
Leotta, 72, grew up in a house a quarter of a mile from the lake.
“My brothers and sisters and I used to walk down the brook to the lake to go swimming, back in a different time,” she said.
Thursday was an eventful day for the proposed tower, intended to fill one of the region’s most notorious gaps in cellphone coverage, where Route 9 passes Stoddard.
AT&T representatives presented a new design for the tower Thursday evening, during the final installment of the Stoddard Zoning Board’s public hearing on the company’s request for a special exception to build on Melville Hill.
In the new proposal, the tower would be 110 feet tall, rather than the 150 feet the telecommunications company first requested. And instead of a lattice structure with external antennas, the company now seeks permission to build a single, 30-foot-wide cylinder with antennas concealed inside.
“Of all the different designs we’ve proposed, we think this addresses your concerns best,” Stephen Anderson, a Cambridge, Mass., lawyer representing AT&T, told the board.
The tower would be more than a mile from the lake, he said, suggesting the appearance of such a narrow tower at that distance would be minimally intrusive.
About 40 people attended the hearing.
Thursday also saw progress on a new challenge to the tower. In the morning, a representative of New Hampshire’s Historical Preservation Commission visited the lake to evaluate what effect the tower might have on a number of historic sites.
Among those sites is a camp run at the turn of the last century by Dr. Charles A. Eastman, a Native American leader and one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America. The camp is located at the foot of Melville Hill, and Eastman’s daughter’s body is said to be buried nearby.
Eastman’s great-grandnephew, 79-year-old Emmett Eastman, an elder of the Dakota Sioux tribe, drove straight through the night from South Dakota to be in Stoddard Thursday.
Vocal opposition to the tower — from not only lifelong residents and Native Americans but also innkeepers, a blogger, filmmakers and a local lawyer — and the barrage of questions the company has received from members of the town’s planning board may have contributed to AT&T’s decision to seek permission for a more modest structure.
But are the company’s concessions in proposing the smaller tower enough to alleviate residents’ concerns?
Tower opponents say no.
Resident Buzz McLaughlin asked if the smaller tower would make it more difficult for other cellphone providers to put their antennas on the tower, and make it more likely that they would want to build towers of their own.
Anderson told the board there would be space for two additional antennas inside the proposed tower. He also suggested that the town’s zoning ordinances could be strengthened to make it harder for other providers to build on the hill in the future.
Geoffrey T. Jones, chairman of the Stoddard Conservation Commission and a professional forester, reiterated his objection to the access road that would be required to build the tower on the hill, and told the board that he, working with an independent radio-frequency consultant, had proposed an alternate site where AT&T could build.
“Forest fragmentation is the single greatest threat to biodiversity on this planet,” he said, referring to the way the road would cut into a block of undeveloped woods.
But the star of the show on Thursday night was Eastman, the spry Dakota elder who took time during his remarks to credit his youthful energy to regular long-distance running.
Eastman spoke about the legacy of his relatives, Charles Eastman and his daughter Irene, said to be buried on Melville Hill.
“When our people were buried, the land had a specific meaning to us, and this hill that she’s buried on is a historical site. Not only that — it’s spiritual, it’s cultural, and it has special significance to us,” he said. “I’m not against the erecting of the tower, but if they could do it in another place I’d appreciate it.”
The state historical preservation commission will make its recommendations regarding the site directly to to the Federal Communications Commission, according to Nadine M. Peterson, a preservation planner for the state.
If a site is deemed to have historical significance, that finding can require the company building the tower to take mitigating steps, such as modifying the design or paying for a site to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but cannot completely prevent the construction of the tower, she said.
Sixteen people — residents and AT&T representatives — accompanied Peterson on her site review Thursday.
The Stoddard Zoning Board has the option to deny AT&T’s request to build its tower if the board decides the plan violates town ordinances.
The board closed its public hearing after Thursday’s meeting, and will reconvene Wednesday, May 11, at 7:10 in Stoddard Town Hall to consider the revised application. It has until May 31 to vote.
Sarah Trefethen can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or strefethen@keenesentinel.com.
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