Minutes of the Meeting

Lancaster Planning Board

Held at the Town Hall Tuesday April 11, 2006

Regular members attending:Chairman Fred Emerson, Vice Chairman Steve Young, Claude Reed, Ann Marie Dubreuil, Les Hilton and David Rexford.. Also attending was the new Selectmen’s Representative to the Planning Board Leo Enos, Sr.

Alternate members attending: Aurore Hood and Joe Hoey

Excused: John Brooks and Leon Rideout

Also attending: Interim Town Manager Edward Samson, Administrative Services Manager Becky Newton and Selectmen David Stickney, Allan Carr and Leo Enos, Sr.

(There were many other members of the public in attendance and those names are at the end of the minutes of the meeting.)

Other information was passed out before the meeting to the members, if was information that had come in to the Town Office after the packets had been mailed to the members of the Board.

Chairman Fred Emerson called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M. He welcomed all to the meeting and said that there would be no foul language, name calling or attacks on any of those present, if such things were done he would ask them to leave the meeting.

Initial Business:

At this time Chairman Emerson appointed all of the alternate members to full voting status for this meeting.

Approval of the minutes of the March l5, 2006 meeting.

A motion was made by Steve Young and seconded by Les Hilton to accept the minutes as presented. A vote was taken and the motion carried.

At this time Chairman Emerson asked if anyone on the Board needed to recuse themselves. There were none.

Public Hearing:

Major Subdivision

Case #660 Thomas and Jennie Cantin:

The case for Mr. and Mrs. Cantin was presented by Eric Pospesil, Surveyor. He showed plans that had addressed the concerns of the previous meeting, such as the shared driveway with maintenance to Lots 2 & 3.. There were notations on the plan regarding this. David Rexford asked about the gas line that is near the right-of-way and they said it was not in use. David Rexford pointed out that the gas pipeline now pumps oil instead of gas. The plan showed a 100’ PSNH R.O.W., noting that the necessary 50’ R.O.W.s would now be l50’.

Chairman Emerson asked if there were any abutters that wished to speak. Abutter William Mallet, who lives next to the pipeline asked how they were going to build and were the slopes alright. They said that they were. This was pertaining to an 11 acre (lot l) lot. It was asked if he was alright with it. He said he wasn’t but he could live with it.

Chairman Emerson then asked if there were any members of the public who wanted to address the issue – there were none.

The case was closed to the public and the Board was asked what action they wanted to take.

A motion was made by Steve Young and seconded by Les Hilton to give final approval to the case with the following condition: That lots 2 and 3 (5.02 acres and 5.60 acres) shall seek approval in advance in writing from PSNH prior to building or driveway installation. A vote was called for and the motion carried.

Major Site Plan Review

Case # 658 Brian Beattie/Mt. Orne Enterprise:

Chairmen Emerson asked Peter Riviere to address the Board and the public on the case in question. He said that they have continued on with the process for the Cell Tower. The land transfer has not been formerly consemated but it is in the works. The applications for K12 were submitted to the Planning Board and the FCC license. They have notified the Attorney Generals Office has not notified the Planning Board why the Mt Prospect site was not acceptable. There has been a lot of correspondence in opposition to the tower (in the packets) and a lot had come in today and was given out at the meeting. He reminded everyone that the view tax and assessing with regard to the tower is not the concern of the Planning Board . That is to be taken up with the Board of Selectmen and well as the road classification. There is a request from the Weeks Trust to lower the tower to l35’.This will be addressed by Mark Hutchins, Radiofrequency Engineer. If the tower were l35 ‘ it might not go from Mt. Orne to Burke Mt.. The technical necessity is that at l85’ you could have 5 carriers. The Weeks Trust also wants to have a say in the color of the tower. This is felt to be quite immaterial. Also on hand to answer questions were Linda Stancliffe, Ken Kazara and Tom Joyce who is with Frontier.

Peter thanked the towns people for coming to the meeting and showing their support with their presence and correspondence.

The meeting was then opened for public comments:

Dean Waltz asked who would maintain the road to the tower. The Mt. Orne Enterprise would be responsible for the road. Public Service will string the necessary poles Verizon will take care of their poles. It was asked if the town could get to the tower in case of an emergency. Peter said that the Mt. Orne Enterprise would sign off on liability for emergencies the Town would not be responsible if they could not get emergency vehicles into the site.

It was asked if the monopole could be struck by lightning that might cause a remote fire. Ken Kazara said that the towers are fulled grounded and they have no record of any fires being started by lightening strikes anywhere in New England.

Becky Newton said that after the review, if Board grants the application, the road resolution then goes to the Selectboard .

Walter Kelly asked how much the town would get in taxes. He was told that the more carriers that are on the tower the more value it would have. Most of the carriers do not agree until the tower is built. With US Cellular you would have everything from broad ban to pagers included in their package.

Becky said that approximately one-half of the structure would be tax exempt. It was asked if the tower help the internet service in the town and the answer was yes. The tower would give you DSL.

Dawn Cantin asked if the closer you were to the tower would your reception be better. The answer was yes. You need to be able to get over obstacles such as ridge lines and trees to get better reception. Therefore this is the reason for the tower to be higher up.

Herb Richardson asked how far the tower will transmit. Ken said that each facility is different, but the US Cellular frequency goes farther than most. Signal levels will vary, but that happens with all of them.

Once there is a tower here you will see them going up in other areas as well, hopefully in Groveton, Bloomfield. You HAVE to start somewhere.

Mark Hutchins, an independent consultant, was hired by the Lancaster Planning Board to review the application and reports to determine if the additional height request was “technically necessary” pursuant to the terms of the Zoning Ordinance. Mr Hutchins is a Radiofrequency Engineer. Mark Hutchins, spoke giving an overview of how things need to be. He had all of this in a report that several people had. He also passed out a map and showed where the various areas of contact would be. He referred to his report saying that l85 feet would provide a much better reception. It only goes to reaffirm that the higher the tower the better the reception. You don’t have the ‘Line of Site’ on Mt. Prospect and Pleasant Mt. that you have on Mt. Orne. Fred Emerson asked that would one high tower be better than having 3 or 4 smaller ones. Mr. Hutchins said yes as it is also necessary to cover the principal highways with the signal. Mr Hutchins said that the “line of site” to Burke Mt. is very important for the microwave signal that is also part of thie proposal.

Becky asked what size the antenna panels would be. Ken said that they would be 8’long and 12” wide on a triangle shape of 14 x 14. and that they would be about 10’ apart.

Joe Hoey asked if Mr. Hutchins thought that the l89’ was needed.Tthe answer was yes. You need to be prepared for additional providers. You don’t want to be caught short and not have enough space.

Mr. Hutchins went on the explain that the FCC considers cellular and PCS services to all be “personal wireless services.” Cell service operates at 800 MHZ. This includes carriers such as US Cellular and Nextel. PCS operates at 1900 MHZ and this includes carriers such as Sprint and AT & T wireless. Mr. Hutchins showed an antenna that was 13 inches in length. He explained that the wave size on cellular is 13 inches. The wave size on PCS is 6 inches. The smaller 6 inch PCS wave size is more impacted by objects that get in the way of the wave such as buildings trees and ridge lines. There is a general rule that as the distance from the tower doubles, the power of the wave is diminished by ¼. This is complicated by the fact that consumers now choose smaller cell phones that do not receive the wave as well as the old larger car phones, with larger antenna, do. He demonstrated the effect of the wave and a concept known as the “Fresnel Zone: with a flashlight. This showed that the light or signal spreads with distance. Objects that are in the way, such as trees, buildings and ridgelines, block the signal or cause an area to be “shadowed.” The best systems of cell towers have areas that overlap. If the edges of the cells do not overlap, as you move between calls, you will lose your signal or your call will “drop off.” Dropped cells would be bad for paging services and cell phone service. White it is recognized that motor vehicle operators should not use their cell phones while driving, often passengers are using their cell phones such as when there is a need to call for directions. Often people focus on the fact that a cell tower is emitting signals but people need to remember that cell towers are also constantly receiving signals. If a tower is down too low, objects in the way will interfere with the tower’s ability to receive the signal from users.. Each carrier needs l0 feet vertically to separate their panel. This tower proposes as many as 6 carriers. Soon, AT & T will acquire Cingular but because their signals are different, even though they are one carrier they will probably need 2 sets of antenna to take care of this.

Mr. Hutchins submitted a 3 dimensional topographic map for the record the height requested. He drew a circle around the potential site. At the height requested, there is an interfering small ridge near the beginning of route 2 (east of Prospect Street) that will cause some “shadowoing” of lower portions of route 2. The Cabot Hotel will be impacted by this ridge. At 77 feet above ground at the Mt. Orne site, the signal would be severely blocked relative to the Cabot. At 80 feet above ground, the signal is in better shape. However, l35 feet above ground, is the minimum height for PCS service with 6 collocation carriers. There will be problems with PCS service. It is unlikely that one (l) tower will provide adequate PCS coverage for the entire town. There may be a need for another tower (for fill-in coverage)at or near the Lancaster Industrial Park. Other ideas for a supplemental coverage would be to conceal antennas in a church steeple in the downtown area. However, these concerns will come later. There has to be a starting point to bring cell service into the majority of the town. Mt. Orne is that starting place. As the tower gets lower in height, there will be more problems with reception for the entire town. Mr. Hutchins stated that “as an engineer, I would want the tower to be as high as possible, particularly since collocation is an important part of this plan.”

Mr. Hutchins then referred to his figures 4 and 5 of the report he prepared for the planning board. A 185 foot tower is an high as the highest carrier could be given the fact that their antennas will need to be centered at l80 feet on the pole. He pointed out to the board that Summer Street was not as darkly shaded as other areas on the maps. This would be the bare minimum of reception likel with the small cell phones. There would be signal loss from getting in a car and signal loss from being inside a building, particularly a brick building. The best reception would be outside. On these maps each square represents almost 6 acres of coverage. There are almost 50 additional areas served in the downtown by raising the tower from l35 feet to l85 feet. Mr. Hutchins stated that “The reality is that if we have one tower at l85 feet, there will be reasonably good coverage for the entire town. At l35 feet, there will be coverage impairment.” His report concluded that a higher tower is not just reasonable, it is a good idea otherwise there will be a definite need for even more towers.

Mr. Hutchins went on to state that route 2 will still be a problem further out. It is reasonable to believe that these areas may be covered by adjacent communities (such as Jefferson). Mr. Hutchins stated that “the Mt. Orne site is as good as it gets – it is a radio frequency engineers dream in terms of its coverage of western section. With the Mt. Pleasant or Mt. Prospect sites, the ridge itself begins to be a problem.” On the Mt. Prospect site, which is not available, there would still be a need for a very tall antenna or tower. With utilization of Mt. Prospect, you would still need an antenna on Mt. Orne to cover the west sections of Lancaster. With regard to the Industrial Park site, it is a good booster site location but not the best candidate for overall coverage of the town, as the Mt. Orne site provides. It is a fact that providers feel a need to cover the principal highways and roads in the area.

He also mentioned that sometimes if there is interference, they might have to tilt the antennas, there are times when you need signals to overlap.

It was asked if any of the abutters had anything they wanted to say. No one spoke.

It was asked if any members of the Public would like to ask questions.

Phil Page said that he owns property across the lake from Mt. Orne, and he has nothing against it the tower, we need it, and it will benefit the community and he has no objection to the color.

Brooks More from the Weeks Family Trust spoke. He said that the family is in support of the tower. They object to the height. What is being built will be there for a long time and they would like to Board to take everything into consideration when they make the decision and they do appreciate all of the Boards considerations. Fred told him that the Board had received a lot of correspondence regarding all of the issues and that they, the Board, would consider all of them.

Herb Richardson said that he walks up Mt. Prospect a lot and he really doesn’t pay too much attention to the smoke stacks that are being used at the plants in the area or how the plants are planted along the way. He goes up to look out at the beautiful scenery that is there and he know that those who go up there do the same. As a State Representative he knows that if we offer this to people they will come this way to build a business and help the North Country.

Fred said that that was true, unless you are looking for something in particular you don’t see it. In question he said that how many really notice the telephone poles along the highway – he counted l57 from his house to town, who would have thought!

Cindy Wiggett, a Sales Representative for US Cellular said that businesses are growing in the area and we should move forward with the tower.

John Pratt said that the tower would have an impact on the local economy. We have enough things against us in the area as it is. We need to move forward, it is important for tourist, traffic, snowmobile industry. It is also important for snowmobile safety and accidents in remote areas of the town. If things have to go to the Zoning Board use the ordinance to it’s fullest extent to make sure all the things are right. He hoped that the Board and the Selectmen would approve the tower.

Hearing no further comments from the public Chairman Emerson closed the meeting to the public at 7:55P.M. Once again he asked if any member of the Board felt that they needed to recuse themselves. There were none.

At this time a motion was made by Steve Young and seconded by Les Hilton to grant approval for the Cell Tower at l89’ as the height extension is “technically necessary” with the conditions of a Class 6 Road waiver and all technical necessities. Chairman Emerson said that he would go around and the Board would give their name and how they would vote: Before the vote Aurore Hood asked who was “We” on the road issue and the answer was Mt. Orne Enterprise. They will be the ones to maintain the raod.

Ann Dubreuil – Yes

Claude Reed – Yes

Joe Hoey – Yes

David Rexford – Yes

Steve Young – Yes

Aurore Hood – Yes

Les Hilton – Yes

Leo Enos Sr. – Yes

Becky asked the applicants about page 21 section I of the Zoning Ordinance there are specifications. The dishes are round and the diameter is in the dish.

Applicant – Sec. 807 I – applies to microwave dishes not the panel on the monopole. The applicant shall be in compliance. As a condition of approval.

CONDITIONS: It was noted that the board feels this section applies to the microwave dish but not to the square panels The Board discussed further conditions to which a copy of same are attached to the minutes.

Case #662 Alan Savage d/b/a/ Squirrel Away Self Storage:

Jim Hammond represented Mr. Savage. He presented a sketch of what was to happen. He stated that there would be no fencing, no employees on site, ample parking. The front building is slated for completion in the fall of 2006 and the back building in 2007. There would be no impact to the road. The buildings would be similar to the ones that he has on Summer St. . It was asked if in the future would there be lighting and the answer was probably not as people don’t usually go to them in the evening.

A motion was made by Les Hilton and seconded by Leo Enos, Sr. to accept the application as complete. A vote was taken and the motion carried.

A motion was made by Claude Reed and seconded by Steve Young to accept for final approval. A vote was taken and the motion carried.

At this time Burton Kline, a representative for Mr. Savage, signed all of the necessary paperwork.

Public Hearing on Removal of a Portion of a Stone Wall for a Driveway Entrance and Possible Tree Trimming/Removal on Scenic Town Road:

Case #661 Frederick Rhodes.

The driveway in question is on a plan that is recorded at the Coos County Registry of Deeds. Mr. Rhodes is taking the wall down and putting it up at the end of said wall. (A plan was attached as to what he was doing.) There were no abutters present.

A motion was made by Steve Young and seconded by David Rexford to allow the permit. A vote was taken and the motion carried.

Other Business:

The following building permits were signed:

a. Assembly of God – to put a 3 bedroom modular home on their lot for use as an office and parsonage. With conditions that no electrical to be installed without telling Town who is the contractor.

b. Robert Every – placing two cabooses on his lot on Mayberry Lane, it is allowed as a mixed use structure.

c. David Caron – remove a part or structure and replace with larger one. It meets the setbacks. Other owner special exception and it goes with the sale. (It was restricted as no Sunday sales)

d. Demetrius Bagley – (Christie Maple Barn) want to have a store and apartment – mixed use structure.

Noting that there was no further business to come before this meeting a motion was called for to adjourn.

A motion was made by David Rexford and seconded by Les Hilton to adjourn the meeting. A vote was called for and the meeting adjourned at 8:40P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Sandra E. Doolan – Clerk

Others Attending the meeting:

Sarah Descrochers, Cindy Wiggett, Murray Vashaw, Jim Dubreuil, Jim Hammond, John Pratt, George (Skip) Sansoucy, Peter Riviere, Walter Kelly, Mark Hutchins, Betsy Hutchings, Dawn Cantin, Tim Cantin, Dr. Brian Beattie, Brenda Beattie, Bill Colborn, Jim Placey, Jeannette Placey, Rick Bernier, Joyce Bernier, Larry Downs, Marty Driscoll, Jennie Cantin, Thomas Cantin, Doug Shearer, Greg Cloutier, Charlotte Sheltry, Chris Wheeler, Linda Stancliffe, Tim Kenison, Tom Joyce, Robert Snowman, Laurie Snowman, Peggy Brown, Paul Theroux, Nancy Hodgdon, Phil Page, Nancy Page, Edith Chessman, John Chessman, Dean Walts, Ron Germaine, Terry Germaine, Barry Lunderville, Barry Normandeau. Melissa Grimma, Kevin Kopp, Chris Parker, Sylvia Martin, Randy Flynn. Herb Richardson, Rita Richardson, Ron Wert, Jim Whithead, Hal Goolman, Bill Remick, Burton Kline, Jim Seppela, Millard (Sonny) Martin, Steve Jones, Kristin Jones, Alan Ryder, Brooke More and Ken Karaca and a few others I missed.