Letter: Neighbors Outline Position on A&T's Cell Tower Proposal

To the Editor:

"Neighbors Aim to Topple AT&T's Tower Plans". The statement, implicitly assumes AT&T's claim to be valid & just.

Let's roll back and assume, for a moment, that town of Monroe was deciding the fate of this application as per local zoning laws. What will be the outcome of this outlandish AT&T application than?

DENIED!!! That is what the fate of said application will be.

That said, we are the group of people who will be directly affected by AT&T said tower plan. Out of necessity, we had to take upon ourselves, to investigate the WHAT & WHY angle of AT&T plan.

AT&T plans to erect a 162 foot (Imagine a Sky Scraper about 16 stories tall !!) cell tower in a purely rural, residential area of town where, in future, senior housing is also expected to be constructed. The structure even in full foliage will stand 10 stories above tree lines and will remain a year round eyesore. It will destroy the existing elements and will be a huge negative influence on the surrounding areas.

PROOF OF BURDEN AT&T need to satisfy:
For AT&T, to avail protection of Federal telecommunication act of 1996 and bypass local zoning laws, it has to prove PUBLIC NEED for said tower and 

• Prove that this tower is the least intrusive mean to achieve the said goal and
• by the simple definition of PUBLIC GOOD, this cell tower needs to create more value then it destroys.

AT&T WHY statement:
As per AT&T  PUBLIC NEED statement, the tower is required to

1. Overcome Significant gap in coverage at Fan hill, Hammertown rd, Wheeler rd, Grist mill rd, Grindstone Ln, Turkey Roost rd, Wild horse ct, Mustang dr & Pinto lane
2. IMPROVE service at Chalk Hill complex.
3. Provide enhanced coverage to 2.6% of town area 

Ground Facts:

1. As per AT&T’s own website, it has GOOD - MODERATE coverage in said areas & plenty of us are using AT&T service and never had any issues. Verizon has excellent coverage in said areas too.
2. Chalk Hill complex will have NO coverage once this tower is operational. 
3. The said 2.6% of town area is densely wooded and sparsely populated. 

Deficiencies in AT&T tower selection 
1. Using the  same towers as AT&T, Verizon has 100% coverage of Monroe.   

•  So why AT&T cannot achieve the same?
•  Why it needs to increase footprint?  
•  Why is AT&T making their inefficiency problem, problem for Monroe town and its residents?     

2.  It is evident that AT&T has no emphasis on smart planning and designing. They seem to have picked the most cost effective option for them, without regard to the negative env/economic/aesthetic impact on immediate community and the town of Monroe.
3. AT&T has failed to identify the most communally beneficial location. 

• The proposed location is the WORST among 7 available as per Monroe wireless zoning laws.
• S/SW/NW parts of town with much larger population areas are ignored.
• Rt 111 left out (missed by inches) in existing plan (10-20x more people travel on it than who live nearby)
• Slight change of location can server much more people.

 
4. Puts a industrial operation in heart of beautiful and wholly residential part of town 5. No viable alternate sites identified by AT&T.6. No commercial/town sites investigated for placement.7. We are unaware if a Grid capacity study was conducted. Utilities are underground in this area and not designed for commercial operation.  Will AT&T dig up the whole place to support the tower?8. Was a fire truck access to site taken into account? 9. If situated on Town property – it will increase town revenues that can be used to offset town taxes and property expenses.

Affected resident's statement:
 The AT&T tower is going to disregard all possible zoning laws, degrade the quality of pristine environment around it, stick out like a sore thumb in it's surrounding, reduce property values and thus Monroe Town revenue and cost a lot of money for AT&T which it surely cannot recoup by serving the sparsely populated areas in its stated public need. This tower will destroy the character of our town and will be a “loose-loose” proposition for the Monroe citizens, the town of Monroe and AT&T.

We ask AT&T to look at issue afresh and come up with a alternative site that benefits the entire town of Monroe and not just AT&T. We live and play by the rules, and it is about time AT&T does too. 
We also thank the overwhelming support of our neighbors, Monroe citizens, our elected leaders as well as the town councils and all others for their continued support to retain the pristine nature of our rural town.

Regards,

Fair Minded Residents Group