GREENFIELD, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — At Thursday’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting the public hearing continued on the variance sought by Viridi Wireless for a new cell tower that AT&T would utilize on Fairview Street West.
The opposition had a chance to present Thursday after hearing from the applicant in previous meetings. The group of community stakeholders brought in Dr. Kent Chamberlain, the past-chair and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Hampshire, to discuss potential hazards of cell towers, ranging from health concerns related to Electromagnetic Fields to potential security gaps introduced with wireless internet to the engineering and design of the tower.
Also discussed by the opposition and their lawyer, Anthony Campanelli, was the validity of the coverage gap data supplied by the applicant as evidence to support the need for a new tower at this location. The applicant has yet to supply dropped call data which would support the argument of a coverage gap, although in previous meetings, several community members provided anecdotal evidence of coverage gaps.
ZBA chair David Singer reiterated to the opposition that health concerns are outside the purview of the ZBA, and while Singer acknowledges the concerns, he ultimately says they are not part of the “equation” for approving or rejecting the variance request for the height of the tower.
The Board will continue their deliberations on the application in May.