Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Fire District strikes out on tower bids

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 04:31:08 -0400

Fire District strikes out on tower bids
By Ellen G. Lahr
Berkshire Eagle Staff

Thursday, April 08, 2004 -
GREAT BARRINGTON -- The Great Barrington Fire District received no bids
Tuesday for cell tower construction at its forest property off Pine
Street, despite earlier interest from a Pittsfield firm that's trying to
close cell service gaps in South County.

The prospect of a tower in the woods prompted a dozen or so neighborhood
residents to turn up at Tuesday's monthly fire district meeting, when
bids were due. However, none were submitted for consideration.

Still, neighbors were interested in the district's plans for the 160 or
so acres of wild forest land abutting East Mountain, but the Prudential
Committee members said yesterday there were no other plans, such as
rumored condominiums, in the works.
Prudential Committee member Walter F. Atwood said yesterday a cell tower
would only bring in around $8,000 or $9,000 in lease money each year,
but any revenue generated by the fire district would help defray any
increases ratepayers would normally pay.

A cell tower lease is unrelated to the estimated $2 million the fire
district needs to establish a secondary water source.
The fire district, which manages the town's municipal water supply, is
required by the state to create a viable backup water source, in case of
contamination at the Green River acquifer that now supplies the town.

The only potential supplies now are the unused reservoir near East
Mountain and Lake Mansfield, neither of which are viable sources in an
emergency.

This year's fire district budget is around $855,000, with revenue solely
generated by user fees; included is the $160,000 already spent on
engineering costs associated with locating a new water source, which has
been identified at a location near Taft Farms, north of town.

The fire district's budget for next year includes another $180,000 to
cover further engineering costs, but the bigger costs are in the years
ahead with construction of a pipeline that would tie into the town water
system.
The costs would be financed with a bond, Atwood said.

The cellular tower siting company, Tower Ventures II of Pittsfield, had
expressed interest in locating a tower in the fire district forest
earlier this year. But no bid came forth Tuesday. The company's project
manager could not be reached yesterday.
Atwood said he thought there may have been a miscommunication with the
company, and if so, the request for proposals will be published again.

At Tuesday's fire district meeting, Planning Board member Jack Musgrove,
who has been working to develop a cell tower "overlay district" in town,
said several cellular service companies have been surveyed and they
generally don't consider the fire district location a good one, even
with a 160-foot-high tower as the Pittsfield company had considered.

Tower Ventures is representing Nextel Communications in installing
antennas on an existing tower at the WSBS radio property on Stockbridge
Road. The company has also received approval for a tower on property at
the Kelly family property in Sheffield, off Route 7.

A tower in town somewhere would help link signals between those north
and south sites.
Ellen G. Lahr can be reached at [email-masked].

 http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7514~2069963,00.html
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