Westport cell tower OK’d following years of community pushback
WESTPORT — After years of pushback from the community, a controversial cell tower planned for a residential property at Greens Farms Road has been approved by the Connecticut Siting Council.
The decision from Jan. 5 said the effects associated with the facility’s maintenance, construction and operation on a variety of areas, including the environment, agriculture and public health and safety, are not a sufficient reason to deny the application. The council also said the project does not conflict with state policy concerning those effects.
“This is a complicated matter,” said Donald Bergmann, a Westport resident and intervenor in the matter.
Bergmann was among many residents to speak out about the project, which had been considered for a few sites in town and discussed for years.
Then First Selectman Jim Marpe and other town officials had, objected to having the tower on the residential property a few years ago, encouraging the applicants consider a different location. In his statement at the time, Marpe said he was “dismayed” that the proposal for the cell tower was continuing, even after the rejection of a similar project there in 2014.
This week, First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker did not comment about the council’s decision, but said the town will not appeal it.
The tower is planned to be a 124-foot monopole that would provide wireless services for Tarpon Towers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, among other public and private users. The siting council decision said the height of the tower may be increased pursuant with Federal Communication Commission regulations.
“Connecticut siting of cell towers is very, very favorable to the cell tower companies,” Bergmann said.
There are very few reasons for a cell tower not to be approved within Connecticut, he said, such as the distance of a cell tower to a school.
Bergmann said he and others who oppose projects like this feel that cell towers should be built on buildings or on public land, not on private property, such as this project.
A similar proposal from North Atlantic Towers at this location failed in 2014, with a protest from neighbors. Tarpon Towers proposed a new cell tower at the private residence in 2021, followed with another possible site for the tower at an office building in January 2022, both on Greens Farms Road. In February 2022, the office location was withdrawn as a possibility for the cell tower, leaving the private residence as the top proposal.
“We have a gap in coverage in this area that needs to be filled in,” Martin Lavin, a radio frequency engineer, said during an August 2022 hearing on the project.
At the same hearing, some officials questioned the surrounding wetlands and tree line.
Some proposed using a monopine tower, which is a cell tower disguised as a tree, though a project manager said it would not work for the area, as the pole is going to stick out about 40 to 50 feet above the tree line.
Residents have expressed their disdain of the project multiple times throughout the years. In August, a resident in the area said she chose to live in that part of town because there wasn’t a cell tower there over another location in Westport that had one.