"A
handful of East Boothbay residents who call themselves the “Our TOWN”
Committee (Towers Only Where Necessary) showed up at the June 12
Boothbay selectmen's meeting to request a moratorium be placed on new
cellular communication towers erected in Boothbay.
In March, a cellular company visited an Ocean Point
property to evaluate sites for a potential 120-foot cell tower,
according to Ocean Point resident Brad Betts. Betts inquired if the cell
tower could legally be built in a residential neighborhood. The company
representative indicated that it was possible.
“I understand that this company has been looking at
other prospective sites in and around the Boothbay area for this type of
tower,” Betts said.
The Our TOWN Committee told the selectmen that
Boothbay’s current land use laws don’t adequately address cell phone
towers, and indicated that the Federal Communications Commission has the
power, under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, to overturn local
zoning laws.
The telecommunications act has made it easier for
cell phone companies to obtain permits to build towers. According to a
1999 Washington University Law Quarterly article, cell phone carriers
are protected from unreasonable discrimination by towns prohibiting
wireless services.
If a cell phone carrier finds it necessary to provide
service to customers, then the FCC will provide full backing, which
often trumps town governments in a higher court of law.
Selectman Steve Lewis said the town consulted with
its attorney Sally Daggett, and they feel the Boothbay’s ordinances do
not discriminate unreasonably against cell towers, and that a moratorium
was unnecessary.
The Our TOWN committee felt a moratorium could buy
time to better understand the inner-workings of telecommunications
regulations and how they apply with zoning ordinances. The town could
then be prepared if an application is submitted, and know what other
options are available, said Ocean Point resident Jean Reese-Gibson.
“We have not got the kind of control and the kind of
guidance that other towns have taken the time to obtain,” Reese-Gibson
said. “When someone come is and puts an application on the table, this
is a proft-making company from out of town. All they want to do is come
in and get their tower in. They don't care what it looks like. They
don't care where it's going, as long as they get it where they want it
to go.”
The selectmen argued that the town already has a system of checks and balances in place to negotiate and judge legalities.
Selectman Lewis said if the Our TOWN committee is
truly serious about beefing up the ordinances, then they are welcome to
participate in the ordinance review workshops currently happening with
the planning board, or petition for an ordinance change via a town
meeting.
“I'm astounded that the town is interested in putting
all of its criteria and decision making, all of its judgment in the
hands of three, four, five individuals, not knowing who those
individuals will be at any given time, and not giving them any type of
bible to go by,” Reese-Gibson said.
Selectman Dale Harmon said he is sympathetic with the
committees’ concerns, but he is hesitant to permit a moratorium, when
it’s endorsed by a just small sample of Boothbay’s residents, rather
than the whole community.
The Our TOWN Committee’s next step is to offer their
assistance to the town to draft an ordinance that specifically addresses
cell towers. In an email from Betts, he wrote: “The purpose of this
ordinance would be to make sure there are adequate provisions for public
noticing, and for reviewing alternative sites, visual impacts, setbacks
from residential structures, and other potential concerns associated
with communication tower placement
….
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