[Skipper of the Sea Que]

Originally Posted by mcdude: msg #105

A little bit of background on Industrial Communications

mcdude linked to an interesting article from the October 19, 2006 e-edition of the Foxboro (MA) Reporter. The report changes weekly. They have no on-line archive and the link no longer yields that article. Without editorializing I'll present it as published. By the way, at the Oct 2006 hearing the proposal was approved. Presented here with the permission of the Foxboro Reporter:

The Foxboro Reporter Week of October 19, 2006

By Frank Mortimer
In 1983, the Foxboro Zoning Board of Appeals granted Francis J. DiRico a special use permit to build and operate a 350-foot communications tower on Dudley Hill off Hill Street.

In 1986, without a building permit, DiRico extended the tower to 450 feet plus a 20-foot antenna -- and later sued the town after the building inspector ordered him to reduce the structure to the allowed height. DiRico tonight (7:30 p.m., Oct. 19, at Town Hall) is scheduled to appear before the board again, with plans to replace the existing tower which stayed at 450 feet in a settlement of his court case a decade ago.

Concerned residents are mounting an information campaign focusing on DiRico's new plan and noting his record of legal compliance when building towers in Foxboro and other communities.

"Owner of towers skirts height laws," was the headline of a 1993 Boston Globe article that reported on DiRico's communication's tower building activities in Foxboro, Quincy and in other states.

A resident is circulating copies of that article along with a flyer urging residents to attend tonight's zoning board public hearing.

Residents are concerned about radiation emissions, emissions inspections, construction plans, recent modifications on a shorter tower on the site, and the height of the proposed structure.

"Is it time to re-address the lowering of the tower to 350 feet?" the flyer asks.
The 6.4-acre parcel is located within the R-40 residential district near homes in Dudley Hill Estates.

DiRico's company, Industrial Communications of Marshfield, seeks a special use permit to build a 450-foot replacement wireless communications tower on the existing parcel and, once the equipment transfer is completed, take down the old tower.

The "face size" of the tower -- the distance from leg to leg -- would increase from 52 inches to 60 inches to allow for installation of a safety ladder inside the tower.

According to DiRico's filing to the board, the existing tower is a lattice with three legs and six anchor points. The new tower would be a lattice with three legs and three anchors for support.

DiRico's filing states that the existing tower legally can and will continue to operate "if the requested approvals are denied."

But since the tower was built in 1983, the filing says, design standards for telecommunication equipment and towers have changed four times and DiRico has improved the tower over time by adding more achors [sic] and guy wires. Nonetheless, it says, the "existing tower cannot be improved to meet today's standards."

A divided zoning board in 1993 turned down DiRico's request to modify his earlier permit and allow the tower to remain at 450 feet. "This construction was done without a building permit and in violation of the Special Use Permit granted in 1983" that decision states.

DiRico sued then board members David J. Brown, Lynne S. Mitchell and Joyce M. McDonough. As part of the board's agreement to settle the case and leave the tower and antenna at 470 feet, DiRico agreed to donate $15,000 to the town tree fund. He agreed to "limit the radio frequency radiation emissions from the tower below 25 percent of those allowed at any time by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Radio Frequency Exposure Limits for members of the general public."

And he agreed to conduct an inspection of the radio frequency emissions from the tower at least yearly (and pay for up to one additional inspection per year if asked by the building commissioner) and report the results within 10 days to the building commissioner.

Four such annual studies -- performed in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2006 -- were on file in the inspection department, according to the leaflet circulating among residents, which questioned whether the studies are being done each year as required in the settlement.

Attorney Frank Spillane, representing DiRico, on Monday said he did not know whether his client has complied with the annual inspection requirement but that he would have that information in time for tonight's hearing.