by Phillip Zema
The Berlin Zoning Board of Appeals voted 3-2 in favor of allowing Mariner Tower to erect a cellular tower on Doug and Melinda Goodermote’s property. David Theriault, ZBA Alternate, and Maryellen Gilroy voted against the project, while Donald French, Victor Lewin and J. Nicholas Adams voted for it. When completed, the tower will provide coverage for most of the Cherry Plain and Berlin locations currently lacking adequate service. The lone remaining dead zone would lie along a portion of East Hollow Road.
Before the meeting, a handicapped young adult female addressed the ZBA. She said that back in February, she was driving on Rt. 22 when her car skidded on black ice. Her car then went off the road, flipped and landed in a ditch. Stuck upside down and lacking cellular service, she was unable to contact help for hours. Fortunately, a text message finally got through to a family member. The accident occurred around 12:30 am, but she was not rescued until 3 am. Paramedics at the scene said that if it had been a few degrees colder, she might have frozen to death. Many local residents cite such accidents as a strong motivation for constructing the cellular tower.
The possible dead zone along East Hollow Road was one reason why Theriault was leery of the proposal. He was concerned that because of such gaps, people might still be in danger (e.g. instances where people lack the coverage necessary to get help). Chris Ciolfi, Mariner Tower’s representative, claimed that the location is not a complete dead zone, albeit the coverage is faint; the tower could go higher, but Berlin’s zoning law prohibits the height above 150 feet. Furthermore, Ciolfi said that microcells or boosters could help provide people with coverage in “dead zones.”
Before the vote, concern arose over the aesthetic quality of the cell tower. It was mentioned that in some cases, to assuage
the cellular tower’s impact on the local landscape, engineers construct a “super pine” around the tower. The façade resembles a pine tree which, presumably, beautifies the tower. Ciolfi provided the audience with pictures of what the “super pine” would look like at the site. Since, however, the surrounding trees hardly reach 60 to 70 ft., the “super pine” would look painfully unnatural and provide little, if any, aesthetic improvement. Moreover, the façade would be more expensive, technically difficult, time consuming and dangerous since its metal branches and fiber glass needles could easily fall – similar to what happens to real pines when overburdened with heavy snow. It was widely agreed not to pursue this option, and as Ciolfi put it, “Why increase the possibility of conflicts when you don’t have to?”
Nonetheless, the ZBA approved a document that (1) permits a zoning variance, (2) allows Verizon to occupy the tower and (3) enables Mariner Tower to begin construction. So in the end, after months of deliberation, a cellular tower will be constructed on Goodermote’s Cherry Plain property.