Blec

1. Cell Towers Forum, 1997

Below is information on the first forum of its kind to be held by an environmental organization on cell towers.

Environmental Tower-Siting Conference
May, 10, 1997
Housatonic Valley Regional High School
Falls Village, CT

Sponsored by: The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council and The Housatonic Valley Association

The siting of telecommunications towers from an environmental perspective is a fine art, and a zoning challenge. Come hear experts with successful tract records who advise communities from a different approach than what industry normally presents. This is an evolving area of science, public health policy, and legal review of great importance to Litchfield County. Learn how to give your towns' planning and zoning regulations real teeth to protect our scenic beauty and environmental well-being. Sample language for regulations and moratoriums will be available.

Speakers:

Starling W. Childs, President of The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council. Mr. Childs is a geologist and a forester, as well as president of EECOS, a land-use company that reviews development proposals from an environmental point of view. Mr. Childs was instrumental in blocking a radio tower from going up on Cannan Mountain.

B. Blake Levitt, author of Electromagnetic Fields, A Consumer's Guide to the Issues and How to Protect Ourselves, (Harcourt Brace, 1995). Ms. Levitt is an award-winning medical/science journalist whose work most often appeared in The New York Times before she turned to book writing. She specializes in the health and environmental effects of electromagnetic fields and the radio frequencies, and has helped communities all over the country write effective zoning regulations.

Walter A. Cooper, Principal and Director at Flack + Kurtz, in New York City, a design, engineering, and consulting firm for telecommunications and information technology systems around the world. Mr. Cooper has over 26 years of experience in telecommunications design and engineering, including six years with the United States Defense Communications Agency which supervised world-wide strategic telecommunications networks for the Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the White House. He has designed systems for the U.S. Army Electronics Research and Development Command at Fort Mommouth, N.J., the U.S. Army in Europe, and the U.S. Military Mission in Saudi Arabia. He also developed a radio propagation model used by the Digital Microwave Corporation and AT&T. Mr. Cooper has appeared as an expert witness in several radio-frequency cases. He is currently designing a wireless stadium system for the upcoming Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Alton J. Lenoce, former owner of several radio stations as well as the owner of a company called Global Communications and Engineering, Mr. Lenoce engineered and built high-powered radio and TV broadcasting facilities, and cellular systems all over the world, including complexes for the governments of Greece, Hong Kong and Kuwait. He is the former president of the Connecticut Broadcasters Association, a director of the Governor's Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, and a director of Connecticut's Freedom of Information Council. Mr. Lenoce helps citizen groups and municipalities better understand the radiofrequency/microwave issues with an eye toward safer facility siting, and was recently asked by the FCC to help draft new site management policies and practices.

Anthony C. Blair, of Great Barrington, MA., has been active in writing that town's telecommunications zoning by-laws. These regulations are considered among the best in the country and are being used as a model by many other communities. Mr. Blair will explain the rationale for such recommendations as: establishing "by-right zones" where towers can locate; the use of low-powered repeaters to fill in communications "dead-spots" rather than siting additional towers; the necessity for hiring independent engineering reviews for all applications (paid by the companies) and for requiring radial plot plans showing radiation patterns from proposed facilities; the necessity for large setbacks and annual testing for RF emissions; and how to write regulations for "adequate" coverage rather than the blanket coverage preferred by industry. Mr. Blair wrote these regulations with an eye toward what is legal, according to the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Michael J. Cacace, Esq., a partner in the Stamford law firm of Cacace, Tusch, & Santagata. Mr. Cacace is the chairman of the planning and zoning section of the Connecticut Bar Association, and chairs the Connecticut Land Use Coalition. He is a board member of the Connecticut Committee of the Regional Plan, and has lectured and written widely on land-use issues. He is admitted to practice in New York as well as Connecticut.

Mitchell I. Greenwald. Esq., a partner in the Pittsfield, MA. firm of Katz, Murphy, & Greenwald. Mr. Greenwald represented citizens opposing the placement of a cellular phone tower at Simon's Rock College in a suit against Bell Atlantic Nynex, at the Berkshire Superior Court of Massachusetts. The suit was successful. Mr. Greenwald specializes in land-use law from an environmental perspective.

For information, contact Ellery W. Sinclair at 860-824-7454 or wml61@comcast.net