Residents in the Nabnasset section are gearing up for a battle at the Planning Board meeting on April 19.
A T-Mobile cellular tower is proposed for two locations in the former village: a 130-foot tower at 11 Brookside Road and a 140-foot tower at the slightly descended 73 Brookside Road.
No matter where it goes, there’s guaranteed to be a group of unhappy homeowners, as evidenced by a slew of opposing letters sent to the Planning Department.
But under the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 carriers have great latitude to place their communications towers in residential neighborhoods.
The original proposal at the H.E. Fletcher Social and Athletic Club, 11 Brookside is located across from the former Brookside Mill, now a two-story building of condominiums. Brookside Village is described in the National Register of Historic Places as a “former mill village of 25 historic resources, including the former Brookside Woolen Mill, multiple unit worker housing, single unit residences, a granite dam, a bridge and five examples of modern construction…”
Behind the Fletcher club is Lambert Way, off of Lowell Road. Resident Dylan O’Connor, now a candidate for a five-year seat on the Planning Board, is a resident of Lambert Way. O’Connor led the opposition to the original proposed site.
The alternative site at 73 Brookside Road would place the cell tower behind the Willow’s Pizza restaurant bordered by Jonas Road. At least 175 residents have signed a petition asking T-Mobile Northeast LLC to find yet another alternative site.
Representing T-Mobile is Attorney Francis Parisi of Boston-based Varsity Wireless, LLC, who filed for a special permit for the second site on March 17. The application for the first site was submitted on June 17, 2016 and underwent numerous public hearings.
T-Mobile is seeking to “remedy a substantial gap in coverage that exists in the area surrounding the proposed facility,” according to the original application.
But at a Sept. 21 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, O’Connor presented technical information in combination with projected slides designed to debunk T-Mobile’s claim that it needs to fill a coverage gap in that part of town.
“The coverage gap…” said O’Connor, “is very superficial and does not specifically quantify user performance problems…”
The second application seeks the same remedy, adding that Varsity would allow other service providers to place antennae and electronic equipment on the tower.
But residents living near 73 Brookside are speaking out in opposition.
In a memo dated April 5 to the Planning Department, Patricia Smith at 71 Brookside said she formerly owned the parcel behind Willow’s. Smith indicated she once owned the restaurant and had to split the parcel to sell the business. “I am the most direct abutter of this land. Westford has always been very conscious about the conservation protection of the town. We were always very restricted as to what we could use the property for.”
Smith questioned how construction equipment could be allowed on the property, and noted the Willow’s septic system is “large and close to the side where the railroad tracks are located.”
Smith added that the land surrounding Gilson Brook which slices the parcel should be protected wetlands.
Conservation/Resource Planner Carol Gumbart appears to agree. In a memo dated April 6 to Town Planner Jeff Morrissette, she noted that the site is located “within the riverfront area of Gilson Brook.”
However, she stopped short of suggesting conservation issues would stop the project.
“The applicant will need to provide an alternative analysis and prove that there is no significant adverse impact on the riverfront area to protect the interests identified in the Wetlands Protection Act,” Gumbert wrote.
The town’s environmental services manager, Seth Lajoie expressed no major issues with the project in a memo to Morrissette dated March 28.
“Prior to construction,” Lajoie wrote, “I would like to request that the four corners of the existing leaching facility be staked in the field to ensure that functionality of the existing septic system is not compromised by construction equipment crushing existing components.”
Fire Prevention Marshall Don Parsons, a lieutenant on the Westford Fire Department, said he had no objections, in a memo dated March 23.
But representing several other letter writers, Robert Cassidy Jr., of 3 Jonas Road, objected to the tower.
“I am writing to urge that no zoning variances be granted to Varsity Wireless to erect the huge cellphone tower behind the Willow’s in Nab. My family has lived on Jonas Road since 1946 – my father helped name the road for Jonas Keyes, the Revolutionary War soldier whose grave is on the road…”
Cassidy said the cell tower should be located “in an open area away from family homes, someplace where the zoning is already in place for commercial ventures of this kind.”
The Planning Board meeting will take place Wednesday, April 19 at 7 p.m. in the Millennium Building, 23 Depot St.
