• Who is overseeing the wireless permits?
• If we know we have unenforceable bylaws, why haven't we fixed them?
• Did the Planning Board send a letter to cell phone companies regarding the pending moratorium vote?
• How was a cell phone tower built near Atkinson School that violated our bylaws without abutters knowing? 

Who is overseeing the permits?  And did the Planning Board send a letter to cell phone companies regarding the pending moratorium vote?

Community Development Director Curt Bellavance stated that the wireless permits were allowed to expire prior to his and current Building Inspector Gerald Brown’s employment with our town.  As soon as Mr. Bellavance and Mr. Brown became aware of it, they sent proper notice through the Planning Board to permit holders, requiring them to appear before the Planning Board to renew their permits.  Town attorney Tom Urbelis confirmed that all renewal permits have either been applied for or granted.  Mr. Bellavance went on to say that his office had created a master file containing dates of issuance and expiration dates for all permits, which makes the records easily accessible, a great improvement over former recordkeeping that disbursed records in multiple files.  He also said that he is working on implementing new software to manage the data efficiently, so that notices will be generated six months prior to permit expiration dates to remind permit holders that they must appear before the Planning Board to renew their permits. 

North Andover United believes this approach to fixing the problem was reasonable, it followed the notice requirements contained in our bylaw, and NAU believes these records are now in very capable hands.  We applaud Mr. Bellavance’s efforts.

If we know we have unenforceable bylaws, why haven't we fixed them?

NAU appreciated Mr. Nardella’s candor when answering this question.  As Chair of the Planning Board [who by the way was recovering from surgery and not present at the Special Town Meeting], Mr. Nardella spoke of his own board’s attempts to work within the confines of our bylaw as best they can, all the while knowing that “it’s largely unenforceable” because of the Federal Communications Act of 1996.  He reiterated what Attorney Urbelis has now explained twice to the citizens of North Andover:  Federal laws supersede local wireless bylaws with regard to setbacks, emission/radiation standards, and health standards.  The Planning Board has had success in using the bylaw as leverage with cell phone companies, in trying to secure the least obtrusive sitings for antennas and cell phone towers in town.

Mr. Nardella’s Board put an article on the May 2007 Town Meeting Warrant to try to clean up the language of the current wireless bylaw; town meeting instead voted to create a Wireless Zoning Bylaw Review Task Force to review the current bylaw.  The Task Force will make its recommendations for bylaw revisions to the May 2008 Town Meeting.

How was a cell phone tower built near Atkinson School that violated our bylaws without abutters knowing?

The installation of a cell tower within the pre-existing building [the Calvary Baptist Church steeple] did not violate our bylaw – its installation within a pre-existing structure was subject to a 30’ setback, not a 600’ setback. 

The Planning Board followed proper public notice law procedures:  they mailed notices to (33) abutters, they placed notices in local newspapers, and they conducted three public, televised hearings on 5/30/06, 6/20/06, and on 7/18/06.  Nobody appealed the Planning Board vote to issue the permit, and the permit was issued on 7/21/06.

Town Manager Mark Rees did note that mailing notices is not foolproof.  The School Department, as an abutter, should have received notice.  Their notice was mailed to Town Hall, and apparently never received by the School Department.  Mr. Rees was very quick to reassure citizens that steps have been taken to prevent such problems from happening again in the future. 

North Andover United appreciated Selectmen Lanen and Smedile’s  concern about whether we could improve our methods for mailing notices to residences, in light of the fact that several abutters have stepped forward to say that they never received notice.  Selectman Caggiano suggested that the Wireless Zoning Bylaw Review Task Force could include this issue in their deliberations.   While Selectman Licciardello reminded citizens to “do their homework” and be aware of government issues directly affecting their households, the reality is that not everyone subscribes to local newspapers, not everyone watches televised meetings, and we are all painfully aware that meetings are not well attended.