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Date: 9/30/2020
SOUTHWICK – While the Southwick Planning Board was supposed to host a public hearing for a proposed Verizon cell tower, residents voiced their concerns over a lack of public notice and the hearing was postponed.
Before the hearing could even begin, several abutters said that they had not received a notice of the hearing via certified mail, and Planning Board member Marcus Phelps said that this was required per the town’s bylaws.
“It says, ‘abutters shall be notified by certified mail previous to the public hearing.’ That is in the cell tower bylaw,” he said.
Planning Board Chair Michael Doherty suggested to proceed with the public hearing and make the recording of the meeting publicly available online.
“I think the way to eliminate any prejudice to anybody who is an abutter is to send out the certified mail this week to them, let them know about the next date of the hearing, and allow for any comments or questions and make the recording of this accessible to them,” he said.
One resident, Christian Bach, said the board had to follow the bylaw to bring the hearing forward.
“I can understand that you don’t want to do that because it would be inconvenient, but as a town citizen, along with all of the other concerned town citizens, we want this to happen in the correct process. If it has not been sent to all of the abutters how can you go forward with a town hearing? There is a process in place, and we have to adhere to it,” he said.
Bach added that most of the residents in the Zoom meeting had only heard of the hearing by word of mouth and not any official notice.
“A lot of people are on this meeting because it’s the first time they’ve heard about it. You can tell by the participation, there are a lot of concerned neighbors around Deer Run, Lexington Circle, and Pine Knoll. We want to take a really good hard look at it before we have to go to Town Meeting,” he said.
Another resident, Jim Doyle, who said he has experience in commercial real estate, argued that the board must follow the bylaw as it was written.
“It’s not just to be a pain in the butt to make you redo this, this is a procedural thing. Being in this business for 30 years, I rarely see something like this. This is a small detail that should not be missed. Either way, I think you should really consider the steps along the way and make sure they are followed,” he said.
The representatives for Verizon were also in favor of postponing the hearing so the board could address residents’ concerns.
“Verizon is ready to present a very thorough presentation, but based on the discomfort expressed by members of the town regarding the way that notice was sent out, we would not object to a continuance until Oct. 6,” Michael Fenton, an attorney representing Verizon, said.
Select Board Chair Doug Moglin also chimed in and said delaying the hearing would be for the best.
“It’s at everyone’s peril to continue the hearing tonight, better to confer with town counsel tomorrow if necessary. In the interest of both the applicant and the town, the best thing to do is cure the defect after consulting with counsel and making sure that defect can be cured,” he said.
Ultimately, the Planning Board unanimously agreed to continue the public hearing to its next meeting on Oct. 6.