Company Pulls Plug on Proposed Internet Tower at Maple Hill School

A Sprint-owned wireless Internet company has reportedly pulled the plug on a plan to build an internet tower atop Maple Hill School, months after controversy arose about the technology and what impact the radiowaves would have on the students.

Clearwire LLC got approval from the Naugatuck Zoning Commission late last year at the corner of the roof of Maple Hill. But Clearwire reportedly said it was not going to proceed with the project any further, said Attorney N. Warren “Pete” Hess, a lawyer for the borough.

The company indicated it was a timing issue, Hess said.

“They said it was too late in the year to proceed,” Hess said.

Hess said he sent a letter to the company last week with the intention of setting up a meeting on the plan, however Clearwire wrote back and said there was no need for a meeting because it wasn’t going ahead with the proposal.

The tower was said to provide wireless Internet for Sprint users throughout the area, while also being a revenue source for the borough because it would garner $20,000 through a lease agreement.

Despite assurance that the signals emitted from the tower would have no major effect on the children in the school, parents flared up about the issue during meetings of the Board of Education and . Many clamored that there still wasn’t enough long-term data to determine any adverse effects.

While the company made it clear it only had immediate plans to provide Internet service through the proposed tower, it didn't rule out the possibility of adding cellular phone service in the future.

Mayor Robert A. Mezzo said it seemed that the company saw some concerns over the length of the land use process, combined with the fact that Clearwire needed the Board of Education’s approval to have the plan go forward.

Officials thought that Clearwire only had to go through the municipal land use process — which means filing a permit and meeting with Planning and Zoning commissions — although late in the process members of the Board of Education discovered they also had a say in the proposal. The board discovered a clause in the contract, which indicated the schools had to approve the plan also.

Clearwire also reportedly has other sites in Naugatuck it planned in building Internet towers, including possibly Town Hall and the East Side Firehouse. Currently there’s no indication as to whether the company is going to proceed on those plans and Hess said he didn’t ask about the other two proposed sites.

Robert Stanford, a Clearwire network manager who has been dealing with the plan since it came before the land use office early last year, did not return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment.

In an, Stanford said the company had an internal deadline of Nov. 1, 2010, to get approval through the Naugatuck land use office to build the tower. Stanford said at the time that, because that deadline was missed, the proposed site at Maple Hill School lost its funding from Clearwire and it would have to wait until the next budget cycle to begin the construction process.

While the company said it does not want to proceed with the plan, it still has a zoning permit that lasts two years.

With the controversy and concern that arose over the proposed tower, Mezzo said he thinks there has to be a community-wide debate on the types of technology that borough residents will allow in Naugatuck.

“I’m still not convinced of the health and safety hazards of the materials that I have read regarding cell towers,” he said. “But, clearly I respect the concerns raised by my fellow parents at Maple Hill.”

What matters is the level of safety and the affect these technologies have on a community.  Mezzo gave the example of the proposed wind tower in Prospect, and how that seems to be a green technology that would bring jobs and resources to that town. Yet, there is opposition from residents there, he noted.

Mezzo also said he is disappointed at the loss of revenue, although he reiterated that he understands the parents’ concerns about the safety of the children.