The Planned Development Alliance of Northwest Connecticut and Spectacle Ridge Association have joined in a lawsuit filed against the Siting Council, Homeland Towers and AT&T/New Cingular Wireless. As the Republican-American reports, both tower companies disagree with the Siting Council’s proposed site selection on Richards Road.
The lawsuit asserts that the plaintiffs are “aggrieved” by the Siting Council’s selection because “unspoiled scenic view resources of the state are reasonably likely to be unreasonably impaired by the erection of the tower within the view shed of the scenic Spectacle Ridge ridge line and scenic South Spectacle Lake area.” The complaint also questions why small cell technology was not presented as an option.
In response, Selectman Edward Matson noted that Connecticut has been part of AT&T’s FirstNet program since 2012. He pointed out the futility of challenging a long-standing, valuable plan and did not think this one tower site was worth a battle. “We need to represent the whole town and not one tower,” Matson said.
More circumspect, Selectman Christopher Garrity commented that, “We need to spend resources, be it a broader discussion of how are we going to deal with cellular coverage, or how are we going to deal with some sort of telecommunication coverage going forward? This is only one hill and we have a lot of them. It is worth our efforts to explore that.”
“It is clear to me that the appeal process would not be successful,” Garrity said, adding, “I personally support the group who are trying to defeat the cell tower.”
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