No public comments at August hearing

By Avice Meehan

The Connecticut Siting Council has been granted an additional six months to decide on whether to approve a 186-foot cell tower proposed by Tarpon Towers for a location off Estey Road in South Norfolk.
A virtual public hearing was held on Aug. 14 with an evidentiary proceeding in the afternoon and an opportunity for public comment in the evening. No members of the public registered to speak and only one resident provided comments to the Siting Council. Additional comments will be accepted until Sept. 13.

Melanie Bachman, the Siting Council’s executive director and staff attorney, said the applicants granted the Siting Council until March 2026 to render its decision. The original deadline was Sept. 14.
The tower is being built in partnership with Verizon Wireless and would fill coverage gaps in South Norfolk, as well as the area along Routes 272 and 263. The official address for the proposed cell tower is 78 Goshen East Street on property owned by Paul Chapinsky (also “Chaplinsky” in town records).
During the brief hearing, analyst Robert Mercier and members of the Siting Council homed in on several elements of the application: the choice of Estey Road for tower access; the proposed use of a lattice structure instead of a monopole; whether service needs could be met with a shorter structure; visibility of the tower in the immediate area, specifically at 177 Estey Road, and the impact of construction on forested land.

Representatives for the applicants said that accessing a tower from Goshen East Street would require a longer road, additional tree cutting and possibly a taller tower because the location would be 120 feet lower than the site being considered.

When asked about the option of using a monopole, Tarpon president Brett Buggeln said that Estey Road can’t accommodate 40- to 53-foot monopole segments carried in on tractor trailers. “A lattice can be built like an erector set,” he said, noting that the segments could be transported on small trucks and assembled with a smaller crane.

Mercier also questioned the tower height, asking whether Verizon could install its equipment 10 feet lower, at a height of 170 feet instead of 180 feet. Shiva Gadasu, a radio frequency engineer for Verizon, responded by saying that 180 feet was the minimum the wireless provider needed to fill service gaps.
The tower itself would be located at an elevation of about 1,500 feet and about 100 feet above the tree canopy. Depending on the outcome of soil testing, the tower would be built on a concrete pad that would require eight to 10 feet of excavation. It would be surrounded by an eight-foot chain-link fence with a propane generator for back-up power.

The Estey Road location calls for a 940-foot access road (including a turn-around) and involves a corridor that has been previously cleared, according to Dean Gustafson, an environmental consultant with All-Points Technology. He characterized it as “edge forest” with trees of mixed diameters and ages. Gustafson said the area is clear of invasive plants and said Tarpon Towers would be willing to implement invasive plant controls to minimize the risk of contaminating the area during construction.