Improved cell phone service will becoming to West Tisbury after the town zoning board of appeals approved a special permit for a tower off New Lane, near Tisbury Great Pond.
The board approved a 66 foot monopine for Verizon at their monthly meeting last Thursday, board chairman Tucker Hubbell said. The monopine will have fiberglass branches and a pole painted brown to resemble a pine tree.
In Verizon’s application for a cell tower in West Tisbury the Vineyard is facing a dilemma that is of growing concern and action across the country. Simply that people like cell phones — but don’t like to see cell towers. Sophistication and market size of cell phones is growing rapidly. Each step up of capability means shorter range of transmission. The number and density of cell towers will increase. But how many towers will be needed in the future?
While debate continues about the placement of cell phone towers in other parts of the Island, Chappaquiddick residents continue to fight to bring cell phone and cable service to the small island off the coast of downtown Edgartown.
Verizon’s proposal to build a cell phone tower to improve service in West Tisbury came before the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last week, sparking a long discussion and volumes of correspondence protesting the location of the tower near Tisbury Great Pond.
The company has proposed installing an 80-foot tower on a 50-square-foot piece of land on New Lane in West Tisbury, and has identified three potential locations for the tower. Two of the sites are in the inland zone of the coastal district of critical planning concern.
Concerns about cellular radiation — either real or perceived — have prompted several Katama residents to protest a plan by AT&T to place a cell antenna in an abandoned silo on town-owned property at the Farm Institute.
A conflict about a wireless cell phone equipment in abandoned silos in Katama came to a swift resolution this week, with members of the Farm Institute, which leases the land, saying they are now in favor of hosting the cell tower. The Edgartown selectmen Tuesday voted in favor of AT& T’s proposal to install the equipment.