Planning Board Meeting 2/24/11 Minutes
Members Present: Barry Karson, Maggie Leonard; chair, Bridget Krans and Stephen Enoch
Public Present: Jeff Purvis, Colleen Johnson, Kate Ryan, Nancy Marcus, Terry Webb and Adam Goodman
Meeting to order: 7:07PM
- Previous Meeting minutes: January 13th minutes accepted as amended. February 10th meeting minutes approved by Maggie and Stephen whom were the only board members present.
- Colleen Johnson of Hupi Road: Colleen was present because she had some questions about the telecommunications bylaw. Colleen is concerned about public rights of way. Colleen felt that unless the town had some regulations in place for telephones etc. then companies could essentially do whatever they wanted. Regulations for radio frequencies levels and a master plan as well as justification of placement for the poles or towers are something that Colleen feels would be necessary. Colleen also was concerned about the 600 feet setback and wondered why we were not requiring 1500 feet. Colleen wondered if it was feasible to consult a land use telecommunications lawyer. Stephen wondered what specific structures Colleen was speaking of. Was she just concerned about telephone poles? Terry Webb gave an example of
National Grid placing wireless meters on your house without prior permission from customers. The bylaws state that any person and or company that want to put up a repeater or a tower has to get a special permit.
- Kate Ryan and Nancy Marcus: Ms. Ryan and Ms. Marcus put a list of their concerns in bulleted form. Ms. Ryan reiterated their strong desire for a 1500 foot setback. Ms. Ryan also strongly suggested that the board write to the state to find out about the site at Mt. Wilcox. Stephen pointed out to Ms. Ryan that a tower on Mt. Wilcox will not supply enough coverage for the entire town. Stephen explained that two towers would not cover all of Monterey so certainly one tower on Mt. Wilcox is not going to cover all of Monterey. Maggie explained that topographically Mt. Wilcox is a very round hill and very broad. As a result it is not ideal for a cell site. Mt. Wilcox does not have appropriate access or appropriate access according to some. Stephen suggested that maybe we should ask the attorney general to
review our entire current telecommunications bylaw. Ms. Ryan wanted to have a testing protocol added to the bylaw. Stephen suggested under section 4 F.15 monitoring. “At the parallax of the transition field” will be added in per Ms. Ryan and Ms. Marcus’ suggestion. Ms. Ryan also wanted the wording “induced frequency” added to the bylaw. The board stated that we needed a definition for that in order to add it in. Stephen suggested that Ms. Ryan get back to the board with a definition to ensure that it covered what she was concerned about. Ms. Ryan stated that she wants Pure Tone Regulations to be included in the Section F.1.1 page 2 of the by law draft. Barry brought up the point that if we add in noise then we have to add in a definition of what noise is and what pure tone is. Stephen suggested that we can add included and not limited to. Ms. Ryan and Ms. Marcus stated that they are concerned about how complaints are going to be handled. They
felt that the bylaw was too vague and they wanted to know what a complaint was and why it would be thrown out or accepted. Barry stated that the planning board does not take complaints. He also stated that a complaint is very simple. It is a challenge of something. It would go to the ZBA. Barry felt that the board did not have any power over such a thing. Stephen suggested that under the monitoring section the board could add in that the board would have the authority to do more than an annual inspection when deemed appropriate. Ms. Ryan recommended that consultant Richard Comi be retained. Barry stated that he felt that if we add included but not limited to pure tones then that adequately covers the noise issue. Ms. Marcus then asked the questions “what happens if someone violates the bylaws?” There is a $300 fine for building permit violations in the bylaws. Ms. Ryan stated that some areas have a $5000 a day fine and she felt that was a good idea. You
cannot supersede federal regulations. Ms. Ryan also stated that the board needed a definition for “routine testing”.
- Nancy Marcus- Nancy stated that there were a group of realtors ten years ago that stated cell towers would bring our property values down. Stephen stated that there is wording in the bylaw that addresses this. Ms. Marcus also stated that they would like an answer about liability insurance and who would be responsible. Maggie stated that if the federal government claims that no health effects could be entered into the bylaw then she was not sure how we could regulate that. Ms. Marcus wanted to create coverage for detrimental health effects. A local realtor that Maggie spoke with stated that if they were well sited and unobtrusive in Monterey then property values would benefit.
- Terry Webb- Mr. Webb produced a letter from the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission of proposed projects. Number three on the list was the Wired West initiative. Mr. Webb felt that this project supersedes the telecommunications we are speaking of and would make the work that the board is doing on the bylaw all for nothing. Mr. Webb wanted to encourage everyone to believe that cellular systems were not what were needed but the wired initiative is what we should be focusing on. Barry wondered how long it would take if the wired west initiative would come to fruition. Barry felt that it could possibly take 5-10 years. Mr. Webb stated that it all depended on the town’s readiness. Stephen asked why the proposed amendment to the bylaw would prohibit Wired West from happening. Mr. Webb stated that the more
you confuse the solutions the less likely it is that we get the cure. He stated that our telecommunications bylaw is a Band-Aid. Stephen and Barry agreed that we were addressing one concern and Mr. Webb was trying to address a completely different issue.
- Jeff Purvis- Mr. Purvis stated that putting up cell towers will make it harder for broadband to come in.
- Agenda- Stephen suggested that we hold an executive session. Maggie is going to look into the legality of it and maybe we will be able to do that next meeting. The board agreed to wait until the next meeting to discuss the information that we have collected as a board. The next meeting the board will open will discussion without any public input.
- Monterey Building Inspector- Mr. Torrico stated that he did not feel there were any red flags in the new bylaw that is being has been drafted. He did however find a reference to a section that did not exist. Mr. Torrico also stated that all work needed to be completed within 180 days not a year. –
- The Monterey Board of Selectmen submitted a special permit- to allow a proposed dog park on the Wilson McLaughlin property and to remove the condition “no other municipal use”. They would like to modify the conditions of their special permit. They would like to include the dog park on their existing special permit. They would also like to request #11-05 which was found to not fall under the jurisdiction of the Zoning Board of Appeals on January 19, 2011. The board discussed whether or not an amendment would be appropriate or if we even needed an amendment. The board felt that it would be OK to add Dog Park but did not feel it was appropriate to take out “no other municipal use”. Stephen made a motion to find that we did not find anything in the zoning bylaw to address their
concern about making an amendment. It is the board’s opinion that it would be appropriate to include Dog Park but not to strike out “no other municipal use”.
- Mail opened-
Meeting adjourned 10:15 PM
Submitted by Bridget Krans
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