This time with a quorum, Edgartown voters at a special town meeting Tuesday night agreed to allocate money for an appraisal of the Capt. Warren House and approved the conversion of silos at Katama Farm into cell towers.
A total of 168 voters attended the special session. The meeting was rescheduled from last week after falling 20 voters shy of a quorum. Moderator Philip J. Norton Jr. presided over the 15-article warrant.
All articles were approved.
The plan to build a distributed antennae system (DAS) to boost cell phone coverage in the three up-Island towns appears to be moving ahead without West Tisbury, after the town zoning board ruled that the American Tower Company must apply for 23 individual permits to use utility poles around town.
Selectmen in Chilmark and Aquinnah already have voted to sign contracts with American Tower.
Aquinnah selectman Camille Rose said she was disappointed West Tisbury will not be included in the DAS plan.
A majority of West Tisbury residents at a packed public meeting on Wednesday spoke against a plan from American Tower Corporation to build a distributed antenna system (DAS) to improve cell phone coverage in the three up-Island towns.
Many who attended the meeting cited concerns about safety, questioning whether radio frequency from the towers would pose a danger to humans, while others said they worried a series of new utility poles needed for the system would ruin scenic vistas and infringe on people’s property.
American Tower Corporation, the company that wants to build a distributed antenna system (DAS) to improve cell phone coverage in the three up-Island towns, has dramatically changed its proposal following an emotional public hearing earlier this month during which residents raised concerns about aesthetics, finances and health, a company spokesman said yesterday.
In the face of federal laws which leave local zoning regulations powerless, West Tisbury officials are grappling with one of the first of a likely