CONWAY — Following a second discussion about a proposed cell tower on Route 116, the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals closed their joint public hearing and will deliberate on granting or denying a special permit and variance in June.
Proposed by Wrentham-based Vertex Tower Assets LLC, which has several other towers built or approved in Franklin County, the 156-foot cell tower requires special permit approval from the Planning Board and a variance from the ZBA because Conway’s bylaws limit wireless towers to 120 feet. If approved, the tower would be built at 1356 Ashfield Road (Route 116) and would provide cell coverage on the state route into the center of town and parts of Ashfield.
Thursday night’s discussion revolved around health concerns raised about possible detrimental effects that could come from exposure to radiofrequency emissions from the cell tower.
Jonathan Mirin, a Charlemont resident, raised concerns about health risks from transmission frequencies possibly affecting homes within 500 meters, approximately 1,640 feet, of the tower. Mirin cited a report commissioned by the New Hampshire Legislature recommending all new cell towers be set at least 500 meters away from residences. Mirin is the co-founding director of Hilltown Health, which was founded on the ideal of leveraging “responsible technology on behalf of healthy, sustainable communities,” according to the organization’s website.
Attorney Francis Parisi, who is representing Vertex, pushed back on health concerns, stating the New Hampshire report “wasn’t universally adopted” — the report states a majority of the commission endorsed the report — and that the recommendation was passed on, but no action was taken.
“Governing authorities, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and all its consulting agencies have deemed this safe,” Parisi said. “We build them on hospitals, we’ve been living with this technology for a very long time and there’s an immense amount of research that supports the safety of it.”
According to the FCC, cell towers “result in exposure levels on the ground that are typically thousands of times below safety limits.”
“These safety limits were adopted by the FCC based on the recommendations of expert organizations and endorsed by agencies of the federal government responsible for health and safety,” the FCC’s website states. “Therefore, there is no reason to believe that such towers could constitute a potential health hazard to nearby residents or students.”
Mirin recommended a condition requiring Vertex to pay for radiation shielding measures for anyone living within 500 meters of the tower, which Planning Board and ZBA members said was outside of their authority to impose. Parisi estimated there were only three houses within the 500-meter radius, but said he would provide concrete information to the Planning Board before deliberation.
Even with concerns raised by Mirin and a handful of other residents and non-residents over the two public hearing sessions, the Planning Board is unable to use health concerns to deny a special permit, according to Planning Board Chair Beth Girshman and ZBA Chair Mark Silverman.
“We are prohibited from engaging with that sort of thing,” Girshman said, adding that there has been a cellular facility in downtown Conway for more than a decade. “It’s in a residential neighborhood. It’s been there for quite some time.”
Girshman said the Planning Board has to follow the town’s bylaws and there are no health considerations written into them.
“I understand that people are concerned about health effects. There’s a lot of things to be concerned about for our individual health, our family health,” she said. “It’s a hard thing to navigate, but I have to pull us back to the fact that we are bound by our bylaw.”
The Planning Board and ZBA opted to close the joint public hearing, think over the conversations from the last two sessions, and go through numerous emails and letters addressed to them. The boards will reconvene on Thursday, June 16, at 7 p.m. to deliberate on approving or denying the special permit.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.