Construction of a cell tower begins this fall in the 130-foot steeple of First Church in Sandwich Village, which bills itself as Cape Cod’s oldest community. First Church was completed in 1848.
Erecting cell towers in church steeples has become a trend; Several churches in Massachusetts and Rhode Island have authorized Verizon and AT&T to build the structures and garner monthly lease payments between $500 to $4,000, reports CapeNews.net.
Verizon first approached the church and said construction wouldn’t alter the steeple’s appearance, reports CapeNews.net. A contractor for Verizon Wireless intends to install six antennas in the steeple. Other equipment, including a junction box, cables, equipment cabinets and a backup generator, will be located on a concrete pad in a fenced-in area behind the church.
The antennas will be “concealed within the building’s steeple, behind fiberglass panels installed to replace — and designed to resemble as closely as reasonably possible — the existing steeple panels,” according to the project description. Controversy over the cell tower placement died down earlier this year after preservationists learned the steeple’s original materials had already been replaced, said The Reverend Anne Cubbage.
The church mission to add the cell tower won new supporters when Verizon discovered restoration work on the structure performed in 2007 included the replacement of the entire steeple with Azek, “a wood replacement product made of PVC particulate and other ‘modern’ construction materials,” wrote Verizon Wireless attorney Elizabeth Mason in a letter to the Sandwich Historical Commission. The town was incorporated in 1639, and preservationists were concerned cell tower construction would compromise the steeple’s original wooden structure.
But after hearing Mason’s evidence, their concerns were moot and they gave the project the go ahead, according to the account. Church officials said the new tower would improve cell phone reception in the downtown area. The only potential downside to the project? Taxing authorities in several states are now trying to tax church income from towers.
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