Hancock residents worried over impacts of proposed communications tower near village center

For years, Kristen and Jean-Pierre “JP” Bernier pinched pennies, saving up to transform their rural property in Hancock into an oasis.

They’ve worked on the house, built a barn and, most recently, cleared the way for a wildflower meadow in the vast space that stretches behind their home on Sugarbush Road.

The picturesque property they’ve built may soon be disturbed, the Berniers worry, with a new 150-foot tall communications tower being proposed next door. The structure could loom over the treeline and their backyard.

“Everything we have, we’ve invested in our property … All of this is literally on our backs. We’ve built these things physically ourselves,” Kristen said. “We’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this — this is our legacy — and then, never ever expecting that this could happen here.”

The planned site lies in a rural residential zone just a mile from Hancock’s village center, where a stretch of Route 123 near Lee Farm Road is marked with wooden stakes and pink flags, and is surrounded by five abutting properties. Most are people’s homes.

“It’s just unfortunate that the site is just so close to [Route] 123, so close to town,” JP said. It could be less worrisome, he added, “if it was further out, like even, I don’t know, a quarter-mile off a road or what’s visible to town, but this is just such a main thoroughfare for everybody.”

The Berniers and their neighbors have more questions than answers so far. Depending on the height and type of tower, they said, they’re concerned it could bring lights and noise to their quiet neighborhood. Visible towers are also linked to lower property values.

“For most people, your home is one of your larger investments,” said Pat Payne, whose backyard is one of the closest to the planned site. “Nobody really wants to see that decrease in value.”

The Marshfield, Mass., telecommunications company proposing the site, Industrial Tower & Wireless, did not respond to the Ledger-Transcript’s interview requests. The owners, Brandon and Mary Pulido, bought the property in 2021, according to local property records. They could not be reached for comment.

Industrial Tower & Wireless already owns several facilities locally in Antrim and Peterborough, according to its website. The company operates a total of 38 towers in rural New Hampshire and roughly 140 sites across New England. It markets cell towers as an asset for landowners, who can lease their property to the company.

The company submitted preliminary plans for input by the Hancock Historical Society and the Hancock Historic District Commission, as required by the National Historic Preservation Act. They denote a 150-foot “lattice style communications tower” with a driveway set to branch off of state Route 123. As planned, that’s below the 200-foot threshold set by the federal government for potential lighting for air travel safety.

Residents recognize a need for more cell coverage in Hancock. Payne, who’s lived in town since 1990 and drives to Keene every day for work, said she’s become accustomed to which parts of her route have cell service and which don’t.

“You kind of accept that as part of living in rural New Hampshire,” Payne said. “I don’t think … having a cell tower is inherently a bad thing. I just, I do have some questions about the placement of this one in what’s really a neighborhood.”

Local input

Town officials are beginning to weigh in on the proposal. A consultant for Industrial Tower & Wireless first requested feedback from the Hancock Historical Society and the Hancock Historic District Commission in mid-April. The National Historic Preservation Act requires federal undertakings — including communications towers, as they’re regulated by the FCC — to invite local feedback about a project’s potential impact on historic properties.

The land was once part of the Estabrooks Farm, one of the early ones in Hancock, and was farmed until 1964, Roberta LaPlante, president of the historical society, wrote in her response. Properties in the area could be eligible for historic recognition, she said, though they haven’t been assessed by the federal register.

Those sites “add to Hancock’s rural character,” LaPlante wrote, and if they were determined to be eligible, “the proposed project might adversely affect them.”

LaPlante requested an archaeological survey to determine whether farm-related or Native American artifacts and structure remnants are on the property. She also raised questions about a stone wall that lines the edge of the wooded site near the main road, which “undoubtedly dates back to the early days of the farm.” Part of it may be cleared for the driveway, but LaPlante asked what measures could be taken to protect the rest of it.

While the tower would almost certainly be visible from the neighbors’ backyards, it could also be seen from the town’s center.

Marcia Coffin, chair of the Hancock Historic District Commission, wrote in her response to the company that a tower at that location could have an “adverse effect” on the town. The proposed facility is roughly a mile away from the main thoroughfare and central spots like the Meetinghouse, the shores of Norway Pond, the cemetery and the town common. She requested that the company conduct a balloon test so town officials can gauge the structure’s total height.

“The proposed tower would introduce a modern, industrial element into a largely preserved 19th-century skyline,” she wrote. “Given the high elevation of the proposed site, we are concerned about the silhouette of a telecommunications tower against the historic landscape.”

More review is underway by local land use boards, as Industrial Tower & Wireless submitted a site plan and conditional use applications to the town office on Tuesday, according to administrative assistant Linda Coughlan. It will go before the planning board with a hearing tentatively scheduled for June 17.

Electronic copies of the applications were not yet available.