Planning Board Approves T-Mobile Antenna to Avoid Lawsuit

Three months after T-Mobile applied for a permit to install a communications service antenna at the McLoughlin Street Water Department tower—located just off the property of —the Planning Board has finally made a decision. 

The application was approved at Tuesday night's Planning Board meeting.

Before the application was officially approved, board Chairman Thomas Scott voiced his regret and said that there was nothing he could do to prevent the approval of the application: "The FCC has basically tied our hands," Scott said. 

If the board denied the application, the city was at risk for a lawsuit, said Scott.

As he announced the final decision, Scott called Suzanne Anderson—a resident who had started a petition against the application—up to the podium to explain why the board was obligated to approve the site.

"If you talk to every member of this board, in our heart of hearts, we don't want to vote for this," said Scott. "If we turned down the application, we would get a federal lawsuit from wireless communication service, and we would have no shot of winning."

Scott said that the proximity to Landing Elementary School was just one of the reasons he felt uncomfortable approving the application.

Resident Lance Edwards also voiced his concern on how the antenna would affect the students at Landing.

"Currently the only access to the water tower site is through Landing School," Edwards said. "How can we not stop this under that reason alone?"

Edwards said that construction would be a distraction to the students, especially during testing towards the end of the school year.

While board members said that the antenna installation will not require any major construction, Edwards disagreed—citing that in order to get to the tower, a road must be cleared, and trees must be cut down.

"Any use of a chainsaw is major construction," Edwards said.

At the suggestion of one resident, the board agreed to monitor radio frequency before and after the installation to insure the safety of the students.