Cell tower verdict due Wednesday

After 20 months of hearings and continuances addressing different locations, the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals is slated to vote Wednesday night on New Cingular Wireless PCS LLC’s request to set up a 120-foot-tall cellular communications tower, and where the tower would be located.

Sharon isn’t alone in the controversy. The country reportedly now has more wireless connections than people, and the industry continues to expand. Local boards have become the mediators between companies and residents who don’t want a cell tower near their homes.

Recent meetings in Sharon have focused on the town-owned property at 411 East Foxboro St. Leasing the land to New Cingular Wireless, which is owned by AT&T, would bring the town $30,000 a year, and local officials signaled their interest by issuing a request for proposals for the site.

Neighbors are up in arms. Joel Stein, who has voiced his opposition at public meetings, said he wouldn’t rule out legal action if the town approves the tower.

“I will use . . . all the rights granted to me to fight it,’’ he said, adding, “I’m not saying I’m suing or litigating.’’

Before the town issued its call for proposals, AT&T applied for a permit to put a cell tower on private property on Mohawk Street. Both applications remain before the Zoning Board of Appeals. If the board approves a telecommunications tower during its 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday in Town Hall, it would have three options for a location, with a second site on the town’s 28-acre East Foxboro Street property also in the mix.

The town land includes one of Sharon’s water-supply wells, and some neighbors have warned that batteries and fuel involved in the tower project could leak and pollute well No. 6 and the Canoe River.

Reached for a comment last week, AT&T spokesman Will Keyser said the company still prefers Mohawk Street, where it initially approached the private landowner, but is willing to use town property.

“It is our practice generally that we want to work with the communities to find a site that works for them,’’ he said.

Asked how the company would respond if its applications were denied, Keyser said it would depend on the town’s reasons.

Kevin McCarville, acting chairman of the Zoning Board, said he expects to reach a decision this week.

“It’s at that point, I think, that we have given courtesy to all the abutters on this topic,’’ he said.

McCarville said the board has held a “very reasonable’’ number of hearings, and consulted with the town’s lawyer, engineer, and officials in conservation and public safety.

“This is a big decision, and it’s a sensitive topic,’’ he said. “I think it was very important that we have the subject-matter experts involved.’’

During the hearings, McCarville made it clear he felt Sharon had little choice but to approve a tower somewhere in town, based on federal regulations that give telecommunications companies the right to provide contiguous coverage.

In August, he said the issue is not whether the town wants another tower, but whether AT&T can prove it needs one.

Other area communities, including Abington, Brockton, and Westwood, have been sued by telecommunications companies that had been denied permits for cell towers. Abington settled out of court with T-Mobile in June; the agreement lowered the height of a proposed tower from 100 to 87 feet. Also last year, Florida-based SBA Towers II LLC filed a lawsuit against the Westwood Planning Board after it decided not to approve a special permit for a 100-foot tower.

Disputes usually focus on the location or height of the tower, not the desirability of wireless service, which has enjoyed steadily growing demand.

Last year, the number of wireless connections in the United States eclipsed the population for the first time, according to a survey by CTIA-The Wireless Association. Data traffic on wireless networks increased by 111 percent from mid-2010 to June 2011, according to the trade group. Americans now have 95.8 million active smartphones and wireless-enabled personal digital assistants, an increase of 57 percent from the previous year.

In Sharon, Stein said he still hopes the town will consider alternatives. It could issue a new request for proposals for a different site, one that would require few or no variances, he said, and perhaps AT&T would choose the new location over the current options.

But the Board of Selectmen’s chairman, Richard Powell, said the town has already considered other areas, and East Foxboro Street fills a gap in wireless coverage that other areas “wouldn’t necessarily cover.’’

“It was a situation where we could have it on town property, which would allow us to get revenue, and it doesn’t set a precedent for cell towers on private property,’’ he said.

Stein disputed the idea that other sites would not provide good coverage, saying the town has given the Zoning Board bad choices. If the board chooses the eastern location on the East Foxboro land, the one closest to his home, he said, “the variances are so severe that they’ve set a precedent.’’

Stein also decried what he called the town’s duplicitous action in writing an article approved by Town Meeting last spring that changed the legal uses of the property, adding “general municipal purposes’’ but making no mention of a cell tower. The land had been designated for a well.

“At a minimum, that’s sleazy,’’ he said. “I don’t know if it’s illegal.’’

Stein has considered moving out of Sharon, he said, but he’s worried about the value of his home, a subject numerous residents raised during the hearings. If he tries to sell before the tower is built, he must disclose what he knows, so the value of his home has already dropped, Stein said. He wants the town to lower his taxes.

With similar battles popping up around the region, Stein said, he doesn’t know whether moving would make much difference.

“The thing that my friends tell me is that every town is equally screwed up.’’

Jennette Barnes can be reached at jennettebarnes@yahoo.com.