FAIRLEE — Proposals for cell towers on privately owned land in Fairlee and Tunbridge are drawing opposition.
Vertex Towers, of Medfield, Mass., is proposing both towers, according to paperwork filed with the Vermont Public Utility Commission and a letter sent to Fairlee town officials.
Fairlee town officials got word in April that Vertex had signed a lease agreement with a property owner on Adams Road, located off Route 5 in downtown Fairlee.
“We’re looking at a 90- to 144-foot monopole tower literally right there in the core of the village,” Fairlee Zoning Administrator Chris Brimmer said earlier this month. “We suspect highly this is an answer to a question nobody is asking.”
Fairlee already has two cell towers that provide adequate coverage in town, Brimmer said. One is located on Route 244, a little more than 3½ miles from the village, and another is located on Sawyer Mountain Drive, which is about four miles north of town hall.
During public meetings this spring, residents who live nearby spoke out against the proposal multiple times.
“We certainly don’t want a cell tower in the middle of the village,” Susanne Pacilio, who owns property near the proposed site, said in a phone interview. “It’s going to be very visible from Lake Morey and that’s the first thing people are going to see when they’re getting off (Exit 15 on Interstate 91) is this monstrous tower.”
Vertex has not yet filed an application with the state public utility commission, which regulates utilities including cell towers throughout the state, for the proposed Fairlee tower. In order to build it, the company would need a “certificate of public good” from the commission.
The proposed tower in Tunbridge off Ware Road, about two miles north of town hall, is further along.
Vertex filed a “60-day advance notice” for the Tunbridge tower on April 10, according to paperwork filed with the utility commission. That kicks off a 180-day clock for Vertex to file its application.
Applicants must give at least 60 days notice to various state departments, including the Agency of Natural Resources and Division of Historic Preservation. They also must inform abutters and “legislative bodies and municipal and regional planning commissions in the communities where the project will be located,” according to the Public Utility Commission.
The proposed tower will be around 176-feet high and “support proposed antennas and equipment of Verizon Wireless,” according to an April 11 letter filed by Vertex.
The town received a notice about a month ago about Vertex’s advance notice filing, Tunbridge Selectboard Chairman Gary Mullen said. About 10 years ago, Mullen recalled getting a letter from a cellphone service provider who was looking to lease land for a potential tower and others in town received similar letters.
“I knew they were planning on doing something, but I didn’t know when or where,” Mullen said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Cell service in Tunbridge is “spotty,” Mullen said. There are no cell towers in town, he said.
“My opinion is everybody complains about not having good cell service and this is part of the answer to that,” he said, adding that the cell tower “might be inevitable. It’s going to happen somewhere in town,” if it doesn’t happen on Ware Road.
He expects to hear from opponents of the project during an informational meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Tunbridge Town Hall, where a representative from Vertex is expected to provide more information about the project.
Meanwhile, a tower proposed on Town Farm Hill Road in Hartland by Industrial Wireless Technologies, Inc., a Massachusetts-based telecommunications company, did not file an application during the 180 days it had after filing an advance notice on Nov. 15, 2024.
Applications not filed within that timeframe “will be considered withdrawn,” according t o the Public Utility Commission. The commission changed Industrial Wireless Technologies’ application status to “closed” on May 16.
The Hartland proposal had led to opposition among townspeople earlier this year.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
CORRECTIONS: An informational meeting for a proposed cell tower will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday at Tunbridge Town Hall. A previous version of this story included an incorrect day for the meeting. The cell tower proposed in Tunbridge would be 176 feet tall. A previous version of this story included an incorrect height for the tower.
