LAWRENCE — A group of Tower Hill neighbors is crying foul over the pending construction of a cell phone tower near their homes, saying the project was rejected by the Zoning Board of Appeals in February and should not be built.
But Building Inspector Greg Arvanitis said a building permit was issued for the 110-foot tower earlier this month because the city recently received a notice from federal authorities directing the building inspector to issue a permit.
"The notice of decision says the building inspector 'shall issue' a building permit," Arvanitis said, adding that the federal decision was delivered to the city Dec. 15.
He issued a permit both for the tower and for an adjacent equipment building at the site, located at 576 Haverhill St., near the Bruce School.
The ruling comes as a surprise to opponents of the project, who say they were under the impression the tower wouldn't be built for at least a couple of years — if at all — and only after all appeals were exhausted. The Zoning Board turned down the application Feb. 1, saying it was an inappropriate location.
Neighbors say the tower will be unsightly and dangerous and that there are better locations in the city.
Dan Clark of 1 Jasper St., who is vice president of the Tower Hill Neighborhood Association and is also a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, said the ZBA held an executive session with city attorneys earlier this year for an update on the project.
"They assured us this would go through the regular appeal process even though they felt the city had no case," Clark said, adding that the appeal process generally takes one to two years. "A week ago, I heard from neighbors that there was construction equipment on the property."
Sure enough, when Clark took a drive to the site, he found that a drilling rig had been set up that was boring holes for foundation pilings for a cell tower.
"Why was the appeal hastened?" Clark asked. "Did they receive a legitimate building permit from the city? And why was no one else informed?"
He and others have sought answers from City Hall, but have so far come up empty.
"I have no faith in City Hall," he said. "I would love to get a response from City Hall, but it takes an act of Congress to get an answer."
While Arvanitis was able to confirm that a building permit had been issued, neither City Attorney Charles Boddy nor land-use planner Dan McCarthy could be reached for comment on how the federal ruling came about. The property owner, Arthur Richter, could not be reached; nor could his attorney, Michael Rosen.
Keith Wlodkya, president of the Tower Hill Neighborhood group, said that for years, the site was the location of a radio tower, which has since been taken down.
When Richter purchased the property, he spent about $1 million cleaning it up, including demolishing the old, 100-foot tall tower in 2007 and removing hazardous materials left on the site from years of commercial and industrial use, most recently as Driscoll Tire.
Wlodkya, who now lives in Salem, N.H., but whose family owned Tower Hill Variety for many years, said replacing a radio tower with a cell tower is "like a pencil compared to a roll of paper towels."
Clark agreed, noting that the radio tower was just a triangular steel structure no more than 12 inches wide at its widest point, while the cell tower would be about six feet wide at the base and three feet wide at the top, which would be about 120 feet up.
He added that the tower is less than 20 feet from several three-family houses, but that there is supposed to be a 1,000-foot buffer for telecommunications equipment near residences.
Wlodka said it gets very windy on the hill and that the tower could endanger children in the nearby Bruce School if it ever fell.
The company that would be leasing the tower from Richter, T-Mobile Communications, claims that there are gaps in cell phone coverage in the area, which is why the new tower is needed.
But Clark says he has had T-Mobile for years and he has no problems with dropped calls.
Further, he said there are location options for cell phone antennae, including placing them on the steeple on the Engine 8 firehouse, which is also up high and could offer good coverage.
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