It was standing room only in the Hancock town office as residents gathered to speak their minds on a new cell tower being proposed for their town — and Earl Carrel knew that no matter what, someone would walk away disappointed.
“No matter what we do tonight, someone’s not going to be happy,” Carrel, the secretary of the Hancock Planning Board, told the 70 or so residents who showed up to Wednesday’s meeting. “We as a board take our function seriously, and we try to look at what is in the best interest of the town.”
He asked residents a question: Would you rather accept new infrastructure or continue with spotty cell coverage throughout the village center and other areas in town?
It turned out that most Hancock residents didn’t get a chance to share their preferences. After two hours of procedural work and considering waivers for Industrial Tower & Wireless LLC, the company proposing the cell tower, the bulk of the public hearing was punted to July 1.
Cell service is sparse in parts of Hancock, including at the town offices. Representatives from the company presented their vision to change that. A 150-foot cell tower off of Lee Farm Road, they said, would provide coverage for a large swath of town: namely, for the village center, the surrounding area and expanding west along Route 123.
Much of the eastern side of town, toward Route 202, is served by a cell tower built by the same company about 15 years ago on Norway Hill Road.
The new tower is being proposed on a wooded property located about three-quarters of a mile from the center of town. The land is owned by Brandon and Mary Pulido, who bought it in 2021. They could not be reached for comment.
Though the public hearing has not gotten fully underway, concerns raised by residents so far hinge on the tower’s potential to be seen above the trees from the town center, which some worry would disrupt the 19th-century skyline.
Presenters from the company said they don’t think it will, having conducted a preliminary balloon test to gauge visibility before suggesting the site. An official test, where members of the Planning Board and the public can analyze the presence of a balloon flying at the tower’s proposed height from the proposed location, is scheduled for July 11.
“If that is visible from the historic district, it very possibly could put the kibosh on the whole project,” Betsy Villaume, chair of the Select Board and member of the town’s Historic District Commission, said in an interview. “If it’s not visible, then there probably is little that can be done to stop it.”
Villaume isn’t sure whether the proposed location is the right one — the Select Board doesn’t oversee the application — but said cell coverage needs to improve. Service is spotty along Main Street, she said, unless you’re close enough to connect to the Wi-Fi at town hall or the library.
“In lots of spots all over town, because Hancock is very hilly, it just cuts in and out, depending on which road you’re on and which part of that road,” Villaume said, “and that’s typical all over the state.”
Fire Chief Tom Bates said while dialing 911 “boosts the signal” so calls can get through, the lack of consistent cell coverage can impact emergency operations by making it difficult to communicate with other public safety agencies.
In the last go-round, Industrial Tower & Wireless had initially proposed the Norway Hill Road tower in a location that was more visible from the center of town, said Kevin Delaney, the company’s vice president. They ended up withdrawing their initial application and moving the facility.
“I know a lot of people think we don’t care, but we do,” Delaney said.
The tower would involve a 100-foot by 100-foot clearing among the trees and a 350-foot gravel driveway stemming from Route 123, which Delaney said they’ve already received a state permit for. After construction is completed, the traffic impacts would be minimal and limited to maintenance crews, Delaney said. There would be no light at the top of the tower, he said, since its height is below the 200-foot threshold set by the federal government for lighting for air travel safety.
Expanding cell coverage is listed as a priority for the town in Hancock’s master plan, where people at the time felt the town should “encourage conditions that will provide increased availability of mobile communication services (such as cell service) and broadband internet access services,” the master plan reads. “This would be beneficial to public safety and entice small-scale and home-based businesses to operate effectively in a changing business world.”
Residents who spoke during the limited hearing on Wednesday, however, remained skeptical of the proposal, with some abutters upset about the possibility of having such a large structure loom over their backyards.
The town is now on the clock to make a decision by Aug. 16. That can be extended for a short period, but federal regulations over cell towers impose a 90-day window.
Along with the public hearing, which will continue on July 1 at 7 p.m., the Planning Board must decide whether to approve a setback waiver. Cell towers are supposed to have a setback requirement of 125% of their height — 187.5 feet, in this case — but the company has requested a waiver for 150 feet to one of the property’s borders.
The balloon test is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 11, with proposed rain dates of July 14 and July 15.
During the testing period, the company will take pictures from different vantage points within a two-mile radius, as approved by the Planning Board, and will superimpose a likeness of the cell tower to give residents a comparable visual.
