Planning Board Minutes

Joint Planning Board & Zoning Board Minutes July 25, 2024

July 25th, 2024

Town of Carroll Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
July 25, 2024
5:00 PM

“These minutes of the Town of Carroll Planning Board have been recorded by its secretary. Though believed to be accurate and correct, they are subject to additions, deletions, and corrections by the Planning Board at its next meeting when the Board votes its final approval of the minutes. They are being made available at this time to conform to the requirements of New Hampshire RSA 91-A:2.”

Planning Board Members Present: Alex Foti, Austin Alvarez, Don Jones, Paula Murphy

Zoning Board Members Present: Andy Smith, Karen Moran, Diane Rombalski, Bill Briggeman, Anita Greer, John Greer, Janet Merner

Public Present: Steven Grill Counsel for Industrial Tower & Wireless, Kevin Delaney Industrial Tower & Wireless, Kristen Walsh Industrial Tower & Wireless, Jonathan McNeal Industrial Tower & Wireless, Bonnie Moroney Selectman, Steven Messina Abutter, Mike Caponette Abutter, Chris Ellms Omni, Tom Godfrey Resident, Brian Mycko Resident, Carl Brooks Resident, Fire Chief Jeff Duncan

Minutes Taken By: Steffanie Apostle

Item 1: The meeting was called to order by Alex Foti at 5:00 p.m.

Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance

Item 3: Attendance taken; Quorum Met
Alex Foti introduced the members of the Zoning Board who were present for the Communications Tower.

Item 4: Approval of Minutes – June 6, 2024
Austin Alvarez brought to attention that Tom Godfrey was an audience member at last month’s meeting and was not there as a board member
Paula Murphy was asking for clarification on page 3 of the meeting minutes.

They recognized the continued use of the road in the way it’s been used for decades won’t be a problem and they don’t see a reason to not grant them property rights. There are some ongoing discussions that will eventually, if it hasn’t already move back to the Town whether its selectboard or not he just wanted to put that out there. It’s basically preserving status quo and clearing up a title issue.

Alex Foti clarified that it was in regards to a Title issue for the road they are going to use and are waiting for the State to grant them access.
Austin Alvarez moved to approve the minutes as amended and Don Jones seconded. All were in favor and minutes were approved as amended.

While we were waiting for the rest of the Zoning Board members to arrive Alex Foti addressed item #7 & Item #6 on the agenda

Item 7: Voluntary lot merger of Map/Lots 408-010-000-000 & 408-011-001-000 for Kevin & Lauren Poirier
This was for a voluntary lot merger for Kevin J. Poirier, Trustee of the Kevin J. Poirier Trust & Lauren E. Poirier, Trustee of the Lauren E. Poirier Trust. A voluntary lot merger is a statutory requirement and just needed a signature which Alex Foti signed. This will be mailed to Coos County Registry of Deeds for recording.

Item 6: Mike Spinelli – 348 Parker Road Subdivision Concepts
Tom Smith the land surveyor for Michael Spinelli presented the board with a conceptual drawing for a subdivision looking for some guidance from the board. Mr. Spinelli owns property about 100 acres in size with frontage on both Rt 115 and Parker Road. Tom Smith did a land survey to locate where the wetlands were and how they could subdivide. Tom Smith was able to identify (3) possible house sites on the property but due to zoning regulations and wetlands that’s about all he can get on this property. There is an existing residence on the property that is not inhabited and also a shared driveway on the property that is pre-existing. Tom Smith was able to break the property into (3) subdivisions with 49.47 acres, 39.11 acres and 5.51 acres. The problem they have run into is for frontage requirements there is a very small area with all the wetlands. Tom Smith was asking the board if there was any type of relaxation on frontage requirement or if there was a waiver to the (2) houses allowed on (1) driveway so they wouldn’t need to disrupt the wetlands. If they would be able to come in from Parker Road via a right of way across the 49.5-acres to access the 5.5-acre lot so there would be no wetlands impact but they would need to have access to all (3) lots off of (1) driveway. Tom also inquired if we required pavement on private roads and Alex Foti said they did not. It was suggested to Tom Smith to apply for a waiver to the (2) houses on one driveway to avoid wetland disruption. Alex Foti reminded Tom Smith it would be the board as a whole that would make the decision and there were no guarantees.

Item 5: Industrial Tower & Wireless – New Communication Tower
Andy Smith thanked everyone for their patience while we waited for everyone to arrive. Andy Smith introduced the Zoning Board members but reminded everyone that only the (3) members present for the last meeting which were himself, Diane Rombalski & Bill Briggeman would be the ones voting tonight. Andy Smith said that they were here for the continuation of an application for a special exception for a new communications tower. Andy Smith said they continued discussion and left it open for public comment along with requesting Industrial Tower & Communications to do a balloon test. Andy Smith handed it over to Industrial Tower & Wireless to present their findings.

Steven Grill Counsel for Industrial Tower & Wireless wanted to mention a couple things that had been brought to his attention before they reviewed the balloon test. Their team learned the week prior that someone has been posting on Facebook about the Tower and had posted a picture of a similar tower from about 200-300 feet away and made some comments. Steven Grill said they did not feel that was appropriate to do and that was the whole reason for the balloon test was to show people as accurately as possible the location and depiction. Steve Grill also reminded the people at the meeting that the tower is 1,000 feet away at the closest point from Route 302. Steve Grill said it didn’t look to generate a lot of interest and asked anyone who was at the meeting to keep an open mind as that was not an accurate depiction of the tower.

Steven Grill also brought to attention that Steve Messina one of the neighbors was distributing flyers which Industrial also feels was inaccurate information. Steve Grill said they understand that these facilities are controversial and people sometimes get strong opinions on them which they understand and respect but the factual statements that the tower will obscure the Presidential Mountain Range are not accurate so again if anyone was at the meeting because of some of those statements they asked them to keep an open mind and look at the facts.
Steve Grill said it was interesting coming from Mr. Messina because he had been interested in leasing his land for Industrial Tower & Wireless but Mr. Brooks was chosen instead. Steve Messina denied that allegation and Steve Grill said Industrial Tower & Wireless would speak to that in their presentation.

Steve Grill stated that a few weeks ago they were contacted by Omni as they had a few concerns as well. Industrial Tower & Wireless had contacted them back in 2021 about a couple of sites that they thought might be suitable and they never responded to the several attempts made to them. T-Mobile Industrial Tower & Wireless co-applicant had actually negotiated with Omni for (2) sites on the ski hill to the point they thought they were progressing and did renderings and were ready to proceed and then Omni lost interest. More recently because of this recent discussion Mr. Delaney and some other folks from Industrial Towers & Wireless went out there and looked at a few other locations but they were ruled out due to constructability and steepness of slope.

Steve Grill went back to Paula’s Murphy question at the beginning of the meeting looking for clarification on some of the minutes taken about the State and DOT. Steve Grill made those comments at the last meeting just to alert all of us that there is a section of Mount Deception Road that is a private road and it has some Title issues that Industrial Tower & Wireless was in the process of clearing up and the State’s practice and DOT practice will be to get back to the Town and ask if they have any problems with this so Steve was just giving everyone a heads up.
Steve Grill handed it over to Kevin Delaney to review the balloon test they had done.

Kevin Delaney explained they did the balloon test on June 12, 2024 for 4 hours in the morning. They flew (2) balloons as requested, (1) at 85’ and (1) at 175’. The height of the tower will be 170’ but with the top antenna it will measure 175’. The pictures were taken within a 1-mile radius of the location. Once you are outside the 1-mile radius the tower is not visible from any location.

Picture #1 was taken just parallel to the site on Route 302. It was .18 miles away and was not visible
Picture #2 was taken as you enter the entrance of the campground on Old Cherry Road and was not visible from that location
Picture #3 was taken from Old Cherry Road at .34 miles away and the top balloon was visible
Picture #4 was taken from Route 302 East near the entrance of Old Cheery Road which is .36 miles away and you would be able to see ¾ of the tower. This was the most visible location. Mount Deception is in the background and the tower will not exceed the height of Mount Deception
Picture #5 was taken from 120 Old Cherry Mountain Road and it was not visible from this location
Picture #6 was taken from 302 West and it was not visible from this location
Picture #7 was taken from 224 Old Cherry Mountain Road at the last property about ½ mile down and it is visible from that location
Picture #8 was taken from 302 West at Drummonds Mountain Shop .53 miles away and you could just see the balloon, the tower would be barely visible
Picture #9 was taken from Lower Falls Road and was not visible
Picture #10 was taken from Avalon Road and was not visible
Picture #11 was taken on 302 West at Fabyan’s .64 miles away and would barely be visible, its just over the trees
Picture #12 was taken from 302 East ¾ mile away and was visible
Picture #13 was taken from Crawford Ridge Road .76 miles away and was visible
Picture #14 was taken Base Lodge Ski Area .79 miles away and the very top was visible but not easy to see
Picture #15 was taken from Remick Lane by the Bretton Woods parking area and was not visible
Picture #16 was taken from 302 East .88 miles from the site and the top ¼ would be visible
Picture #17 was taken from 302 West and the top would be visible
Picture #18 was taken from Stickney Way .96 miles from the site and was not visible

Kevin Delaney then reviewed the other site locations they looked at for the tower. They looked at the Messina property, The Foti Property, The Omni Resort. More recently they had met with the folks at the Omni and looked at several sites but due to water pipes for snow, steep slopes, proximity to National Forests and not good coverage they were not chosen. T-Mobile had tried to negotiate with Omni in 2021-2023 but they were not interested and stopped communication.

Paula Murphy asked if they had any commitments from any other carriers and Kevin Delaney said T-Mobile was the only one right now but typically once one gets on the tower the others will follow to keep up with the competition

Anita Greer asked if they took into consideration the view change in the winter. Kevin Delaney said he believes it will blend in better with Mount Deception once the leaves fall off of the trees.

There was some discussion about painting it different colors and Industrial Tower said they would paint it any color we wanted but would strongly recommend we did not do that as it makes it stick out more especially with the long winters we have. There was discussion about camouflaging the tower as trees but due to the height of the tower it will exceed the lower trees and not look good or blend in

Andy Smith asked Diane Rombalski who drove to almost every site except the ski area and asked if she thought the pictures represented an accurate representation. Diane Rombalski said the pictures presented were accurate.

Alex Foti said he drove around and also owns (2) of the properties that will be most visible to the tower and what he noticed was far more visible than the ballons are Electric poles and wires all over the place. Alex Foti said he just got back from a trip to Europe and cell towers are everywhere. This is just part of life in a world where telecommunications are essential.

Janet Merner asked if the Town is able to limit height, or if the Federal Government had requested. Andy Smith said cell towers are allowed by right anywhere in the town with special conditions from the Zoning Board and Planning Board but the State does override that and limits us. Steven Grill also said that as of 1996 the Federal law has been that local Zoning is preserved within certain limits but have the ability to deploy wireless communications for public safety and to compete with landlines. One limit was wireless communication can not be prohibited. Industrial Tower & Wireless tried to find a reasonable balance to provide the service with the least amount of impact, there is no perfect solution.

Alex Foti read letters from the residents out loud at the meeting. (Please see attachments)
Before Alex Foti opened up to public comments he asked if the Board had any comments

Bill Briggeman commented that the information Steve Messina provided was from 2012 and there were more recent findings

Austin Alvarez said that he understood nobody wants to see a cell phone tower in town anywhere but that they were necessary for current technologies. Austin Alvarez complimented Industrial Tower & Wireless for finding a good location with minimal impact that was not as intrusive as the other towers in the Town.

Bill Briggeman said if there is a need here for T-Mobile to serve its customers and the impact with that is a broader economy of the region for people coming here to be able to get service. He believed it was more of a T-Mobile need rather than a community need but given the impact tourism has in this region it would be a ripple effect.

Alex Foti said he was there for the balloon test and drove around to the ski resort and to homes. Alex Foti said if we could have a world with no cell phone tower, no electrical poles, no homes or roads this area would look a lot different but that is not the world we live in. Alex Foti said he thinks they did a great job with the placement and where most of the tourism is in this area looking at the presidential range this is the complete opposite side and will be out of line of site.

Karen Moran said she agreed with Bill Briggeman. She had reviewed the telecommunications draft of 96 and a couple of the requirements was there needed to be a gap in cell service which some people at the meeting said they had and some people said they did not have. It appeared to her there was a gap in just the T-Mobile customers until other carriers decided they wanted to join as well.

Kevin Delaney said there was a gap in all carriers it was just T-Mobile who is presently out front with getting on the tower and then the other carriers will follow as they always do.

Andy Smith said he travels that road a lot from Franconia to North Conway there are a lot of gaps in service and he knows right where they start and end

Janet Merner said she guesses she must be lucky because she doesn’t have a gap

Comments were then made open to the public

Brian Mycko said there is no cell phone coverage and a booster will not help as there is no existing signal to boost. Brian Mycko travels that road all of the time and there is no service.

Alex Foti wanted to comment on the emergency service perspective. Alex Foti said its not the emergency service personnel he was worried about but it was the person who needed to make the call for the emergency. He has kids who can’t make emergency calls if needed, he has a dog with a collar that should send alerts as to where it is but none of it works because there is no service.

Steve Messina asked what size the balloons they used were and what size is the antenna at the top of the tower.
Kevin Delaney said the balloons were 3.5’ wide and the arrays of the antenna was 15’ wide.

Steve Messina presented some pictures to the board taken from his property where you can see the balloon. The second picture showed his property on a clear day where you would see Mount Deception. Steve Messina believes its going to be an eye sore.

Chris elms said you would be able to see the tower from the ski area. Chris said they had thought maybe possibly at the base of the West Mountain but it didn’t work out. Chris Elms did agree they needed more cell service
Andy Smith said the applicant did submit photos and a letter explaining the alternative sites they had looked into

Steve Messina said this would have an adverse effect on the character of the area so it did not adhere to the ordinances

Alex Foti said that was Steve Messina’s assessment and that the board would make the final decision on that
Meeting was closed to public comments and the boards made final comments.

Andy Smith said Zoning Board would go first and from a process standpoint all the Zoning members could join the discussion but the voting would be limited to Bill Briggeman, Diane Rombalski and himself as they were there for the first meeting.

Diane Rombalski said she spent a considerable amount of time on this and spent over an hour driving around during the balloon test. Diane Rombalski said she lived on Old Cherry Mountain Road but was not an abutter. Diane Rombalski said she did take into consideration the tower was not going to be invisible as we do not have the technology for that but we do have a society based off of telecommunications. Since Diane Rombalski does live on Old Cherry Mountain Road and commutes to North Conway for work there is a gap in cell service as most people do not have landlines, they rely on cell service. Diane Rombalski has a hard time communicating with work or calling her family. Diane Rombalski also has electrical lines that go down the side of her entire property that she sees every day. Diane Rombalski said she put a lot of time and effort into her decision which was not made lightly.

Andy Smith reminded the board of the goal with a special exception is an allowed use by right in the Town of Carroll and there were (3) criteria that the applicant needs to meet which they responded to in their application.

Criteria 1 - The proposed use shall not adversely affect the capacity of existing or planned community facilities
• The proposed tower will benefit the area with up to (5) wireless carriers and it will create minimal demand for municipal services with no expected impact on water, drainage, sewer, police, fire or schools.
There was no comment from the Zoning Board on this

Criteria 2 -The purposed use shall not adversely affect the character of the area affected.
• The parcel selected is large and has historically been used for a variety of purposes including residential, campground and a gravel pit. The vicinity has other significant non-residential uses including the Bretton Woods ski area and the Resort Waste Services Corporation treatment facility. Care was taken to select a site from which services could be provided with as little visual impact as possible. The proposed tower will blend into the terrain to the North and West which is mountains and will provide a backdrop. There are also a significant amount of trees and vegetation in the area which will further mitigate visual impact. ITW has received FAA approval in advance of its application and there was no perceived impacts relating to noise, vibration, traffic, lighting, glare, odors, hours of operation, amount of impervious surface or building size and mass. ITW’s FAA determination of no hazard air navigation. The proposed tower is more than 1,000 feet away from the nearest residence, will be owned by the applicant, and will be maintained adequately.

Bill Briggeman commented that the pro’s outweigh the cons. There is a concern that when it is green you will see the tower but 8 months out of the year it’s not green. Bill Briggeman did not think it will be that much of an eye sore. Bill Briggeman also stated that all of rural northern New Hampshire has this problem of no communications regardless of where you are. So here we are given a golden opportunity to fix it and take into consideration that 4 months out of the year we will have to look at it.

Anita Greer said she was sympathetic to the gap in coverage but pointing out other eye sores doesn’t justify adding another one. There may be other reasons that override that but she didn’t see that as a reason.

Andy Smith said his own personal opinion on this is he can’t prove that adding a tower will decrease the value. There is a ski area with lights and towers and it’s not the pristine area it used to be. People thought the ski area would destroy the values and it hasn’t. Andy Smith has empathy for the people who say it will be a change, but he can’t justify that its going to change the value. Andy Smith did not believe it would adversely affect the area.

Criteria 3 -The purposed use shall not adversely affect the traffic on roads and highways in the immediate vicinity
• Once construction is complete the facility will be unmanned except for periodic maintenance, therefore there will be no impact to traffic.

There were no other questions or thoughts from the Zoning Board.

Diane moved to approve the application and Bill Briggeman seconded it. None were opposed motion was passed to approve the Special Exception from the Zoning Board.
Andy Smith reminded everyone there was a 30-day appeal period.

The Zoning Board left after their vote.

Alex Foti reminded the Planning Board of the guidelines

• The Town of Carroll finds that regulation of the placement, spacing installation, location and number of both wireless and conventional telecommunications facilities, consistent with federal and state policies and law, is in the public interest (a) in order to reduce the potential adverse impacts of such facilities upon the unique natural assets of the Town, including its scenic mountain views, its recreational trail network accessing the White Mountain National Forest and its wilderness environment; (b) in order to minimize the number and height of towers, avoid congestion in their location and lessen their intrusive effect; (c) in order to conserve and enhance property values; and (d) in order to ensure the optimum location of such facilities.

Paula Murphy asked if anyone else thought that painting it brown would be less obtrusive

Alex Foti said we are covered in snow a lot of the year and thinks gray would be better

Don Jones said he was driving up from Boston through Franconia Notch and he has never realized how many cell towers there were in Franconia Notch that he had never noticed.

Austin Alvarez said nobody wants to see a cell phone tower but he thinks Industrial Tower & Wireless did a good job in finding a location for placement that minimizes impact on the special uses. Austin Alvarez really thinks it’s the best location and will provide service to Bretton Woods that they don’t currently have.

Don Jones made a movement to approve the application and Austin Alvarez seconded it. All were in favor nobody opposed motion was approved for the Special Use permit.

Alex Foti said there was a 30-day appeal period and a Mylar will be needed

Paula Murphy asked about a performance bond and Alex said they would need one

Item 6: Mike Spinelli – 348 Parker Road Subdivision Concepts
This was discussed at beginning of meeting before Industrial Tower & Wireless

Item 7: Voluntary lot merger of Map/Lots 408-010-000-000 & 408-011-001-000 for Kevin & Lauren Poirier
This was discussed at beginning of meeting before Industrial Tower & Wireless

Item 8: Phase II Water Department / Echo Lake
Selectperson Bonnie Moroney spoke in regards to Echo Lake. Bonnie Moroney presented a drawing from Phase I in regards to a driveway going over a water main. Bonnie Moroney spoke with Scott Sonia from the water department and the water line only goes down 4 feet so Echo Lake will need to put down some type of steel plate or something over the water line to prevent damage. It will need to be some type of permanent protection for the main water line. Kevin Leonard is aware of this but she wants to bring it to the Boards attention.

Alex Foti said Echo Lake application was approved with all of Kevin Leonard’s needs being met.
Item 9: Gardner Kellogg – Kegan & Sade Labonte Conceptual Lot Line Adjustment

Gardner Kellogg presented to the Planning Board a drawing for a lot line adjustment for Kegan & Sade Labonte. They were looking to take (2) lots and change the size. (1) lot to go from 2.51 acres to 1.00 acres and (1) lot to go from 1.55 acres to 3.06 acres.

Alex Foti reviewed the ordinances and they are as follows; minimal lot size for a single family or a (2) family dwelling shall be 1 acre. The lot does have town water and sewer.

Gardner Kellogg’s question for the board was if his drawing was acceptable. The board agreed they did not see any problems. Gardner Kellogg will need to get his application in as soon as possible to meet the deadline for the September 5th meeting.

Item 10: All Other Business
The board reviewed the next (2) meeting dates for the Planning Board as July and August dates had been moved to accommodate this joint Planning & Zoning Board meeting. Next Planning Board meeting is August 15th and the following month will be September 5th which will put them back on the regular schedule.

Austin Alvarez asked when the Master Planning Committee will be meeting and they were meeting on Wednesday July 31st at 3:30pm. Rena Vecchio, Paula Murphy, Joan Nicosia, Bonnie Moroney are all on the committee. It was posted to the Town website looking for residents that may be interested to join.

Item 11: Adjourn
Austin Alvarez made a motion to adjourn and Don Jones seconded it. All were in favor meeting was adjourned at 7:00pm