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. 

Despite the protests, Stoddard ZBA approves AT&T Cell Tower on Melville Hill in 3-2 vote

After seven months the verdict is in: Stoddard's Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) voted on May 25 to grant AT&T a Special Exception to build a cell tower on Melville Hill.

To say it's a disappointment is a major understatement. In fact, it's taken some time even to write about what happened.

For the last seven months we've sat through a long series of hearings to determine whether AT&T should be granted a Special Exception in a Rural Area to build the proposed cell tower. As word got out, area protests grew in size and strength and outrage, as the cell tower would loom over Granite Lake, one of the jewels of the Monadnock region. The townships of both Stoddard and Nelson were affected as well not only by the visual desecration of the landscape but by the property devaluations that would follow and the summer rental businesses that would be hurt.

Protests Continue Against AT&T's Proposed Cell Tower in Stoddard, NH

In addition to letters and petitions from concerned residents of the townships of Nelson and Stoddard, weighing in again recently against the proposed AT&T cell tower on top of Melville Hill, which would loom over Granite Lake and the nearly 15,000-acre Andorra Forest which adjoins Melville Hill, was Geoffrey Jones, head of the Stoddard Conservation Commission.

While Jones has spoken publicly before the Stoddard Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) on numerous occasions during the last six months of hearings, he recently sent a letter and documents to Stephen Delsordo of the Federal Communications Commission's Office of Historic Preservation, which is considering a petition regarding the historic aspects of the region:

The Struggle with AT&T Goes On...to a ZBA Decision May 13

The historic sites walk yesterday morning and the hearing last night are described by a Keene Sentinel writer in this article, which has just been published:

In Stoddard, ways of life collide

No decision yet on proposed cell tower

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STEVE HOOPER / Sentinel Staff

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.

By Sarah Trefethen Sentinel Staff | 0 comments

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.”

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

Looking for Alternative Cell Tower Sites

After the December 15 ZBA hearing, during which alternative sites to Melville Hill were discussed for the first time, we prepared ourselves for the next hearing on January 5 by trying to find independent Radio Frequency (RF) consultants who could help us locate other potential sites. By law, AT&T would have to pay for this consultant.

Sensitive to the concerns of Granite Lake residents, some of the ZBA members were also trying to find alternate sites.