The Conway, MA Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) announced yesterday it has closed their joint public hearings on a proposed cell tower on Route 116. The ZBA said it will now deliberate on granting or denying a special permit and variance in June for the 156-foot Franklin County site, according to the Greenfield Recorder.
Vertex Tower Assets LLC, is requesting the special permit and a variance allowing them to build past the 120-foot limits currently set in the town’s by-laws. The tower would be built at 1356 Ashfield Road, providing cell coverage on the state route into the center of town and parts of Ashfield.
Local residents at Thursday night’s hearing expressed health concerns from exposure to RF emissions from the cell tower. One resident cited a New Hampshire Legislature report recommending all new cell towers be set at least 1,640 feet away from residences. Three houses are located within that radius. The resident suggested that the tower developer pay for radiation shielding for anyone living within that radius.
A spokesperson for Vertex, Francis Parisi, said the New Hampshire report “wasn’t universally adopted.”
“Governing authorities, the FCC and all its consulting agencies have deemed this safe,” Parisi told the Recorder. “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.”
Planning Board Chair Beth Girshman and ZBA Chair Mark Silverman said residents would be unable to use health concerns to deny a special permit per FCC regulations.
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