Westport Now: Connecticut Siting Council Considers Bayberry Lane Tower Expansion

March 18, 2004

Connecticut Siting Council Considers Bayberry Lane Tower Expansion

The Connecticut Siting Council met in Westport today to consider an application to increase by about 50 feet the height of a town-owned communications tower on Bayberry Lane.

If approved, the tower will provide improved cell phone coverage, better emergency radio communications, and enhanced coverage for the Staples High School radio station, according to the Westport Fire Department.

Members of the council met at the tower, adjacent to the Westport-Weston Health District, to inspect the site and see a balloon simulating the requested increase.

They then headed to an afternoon and evening public hearing at Town Hall.

According to Eric Fine, a Westport Fire Department communications specialist, the tower height would increase from its present 100 feet to 150 feet and would actually involve constructing a new tower adjacent to the present one.

He said in addition to present occupants Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint, the tower operator, SpectraSite Communications, Inc., would add Nextel, AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile.

The tower serves Westport's emergency services as well as the FBI and also is used by WWPT-FM, the Staples student-run radio station.

"It's a win-win for the town," Fine said. "We get better coverage and a little more revenue."

He said he has been in touch with one neighbor who has expressed some concern about the work but otherwise the project has evoked little public interest.

Both the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance have already reviewed the tower replacement, which involves no town funding, he said.

Members of the Connecticut Siting Council visit the Bayberry Lane tower site today. The balloon indicates new tower height.WestportNow.com photo