Residents of the Berkshire community heard a presentation on the proposed bylaw in the Duffin Theater at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School.
“The zoning bylaw presented before you tonight is the culmination of about two years’ worth of work by the planning board," said planning board chair Tom Delasco. "We've utilized the services of two different consultants over that time, who have guided the board through the maze of federal law and technical nature of wireless communications infrastructure. We've also pored over countless documents compared bylaws from many other towns, read studies, listen to constituents and made adjustments along the way. The planning board is confident that this bylaw forms a delicate balance between the need for additional wireless service coverage and also limits the intensity of this commercial type use on our mostly residential community.”
Delasco said the town’s current bylaw is not in compliance with federal standards.
“It restricts wireless infrastructure placement to five specific parcels along the Route 7 and 20 corridor in the vicinity of the MassDOT district building," he explained. "Lenox only has three cell towers: Behind Lenox Fit, inside the steeple of the Church on the Hill, and on a utility pole on West Street near Tanglewood. These all fall well outside the five parcels and leave large parts of town with poor service. It also does not provide for town wide coverage. and because of the restrictions, leaves the town susceptible to undesirable, undesirable proposals. The new bylaw is compliant with federal law, opens up more parts of town for prospective infrastructure which would provide for town wide coverage, provides discretion to the zoning board of appeals, and provides for ample public review and input during the special permit process.”
When the floor opened for debate, critics and supporters of the bylaw alike rushed to the mics. One skeptical resident was Scott Barrow.
“I am one of the people that believe that hanging out next to a cell tower is not good for you, and generally isn't good for the environment, and I know we're not supposed to talk about it," he said. "But that's how many of the people in this room feel and nobody in this room wants to have their house next to a cell tower.”
Amy Judd also expressed misgivings about the bylaw.
“The intention of this bylaw seems to be to make things easier on wireless companies so the town won’t get sued. But what about the people? There is no notice to residents of anything other than a new tower," said Judd. "The proposed bylaw doesn't address environmental or historical resource issues. The current one does. The application content requirement asked for far fewer things than the current bylaw. This is probably intentional, but this is one of the most important parts of any application, and requirements need to be laid out in the bylaw with specificity. You must have a solid exhaustive list of the substantive criteria that are set out in the bylaw, everything you could need to evaluate the permits and once completed to inspect the facility. The proposed bylaw lacks the detail necessary.”
Linda Miller said Lenox’s poor cell service represents an existential threat to many in the community, especially during power outages that make phone lines useless during emergencies.
“You can't call the police, you can't call an ambulance, you can't call a doctor, you have to wait or just or go somewhere," she said. "And if you're not capable of going, you have a real problem. You could die there. Those little devices that are called safety devices, they depend on cell service. They don't work. It is definitely something that is a health emergency, a family emergency. It is something that Lenox needs to provide for that big swath. It's not a tiny swath of Lenox that has no service.”
Former select board member Channing Gibson said that the bylaw is critical now that cell phones have become ubiquitous.
“Along with public safety, there are social justice issues at stake in the consideration of a bylaw that provides for improved cell communications, issues about haves and have nots, issues about lesser cell levels of service for many of our fellow citizens that need rectifying," he said. "Now, an unwillingness to trust existing scientific and health guidelines is not a valid excuse to deny members of our community help for their very real safety concerns, nor to deny them access to the benefits and comforts of being connected.”
Sue Merritt, owner of the aforementioned Lenox Fit, which sits in the shadow of one of the town’s three cell towers, supported the bylaw.
“I have worked in this building for 16 years," she said. "I have owned this building for eight years. And so far, I'm not glowing, and I'm still here to talk about it. I think there's been a lot of misinformation spread throughout the community regarding scare tactics and science that tries to fit the narrative of people who are scared of things that they don't necessarily fully understand.”
After a successful call for the question, critics of the bylaw only had to prevent it from achieving a two-thirds majority of the vote — which they did in a 251-147 split. A thin 3% margin under the 66% required for passage means it’s back to the drawing board for Delasco and the planning board to craft a federally compliant cell tower zoning bylaw.
“There was still some misinformation out there around it," he said. "One comment was about the special permit process and the notifications, that for other installations that are not towers have no notifications. And that's not true. So, they have to follow the regular special permit process, which has the 300 foot abutter rule, notification rule.”
WAMC asked Delasco if he felt the town had done enough to counter misinformation in the leadup to the vote.
“I made an effort to try to correct some of that myself," he responded. "And then yeah, there were there were efforts made, but it just, you know, I don't think it was quite enough.”
Lenox residents also passed spending plans that amount to over $60 million for upgrades to the town’s wastewater treatment plant and the creation of a new public safety building, as well as bylaws addressing noise and puppy mills.
