This article discusses controversy over proposed cell tower locations in Greenwich, Connecticut. Residents have opposed plans for a 157-foot T-Mobile tower at the Montgomery Pinetum nature preserve and near North Mianus School. Alternative potential sites discussed include the Cos Cob Archers property and two locations on Bible Street in Cos Cob. While the First Selectman favors the Bible Street sites, some residents argue they have no local control over decisions of the state Siting Council that approves tower applications. T-Mobile is also considering a site in Byram that town officials have urged them to reconsider due to density concerns.

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VOL. LXXIII NO. 43, 5 SECTIONS
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TIMOTHY GUZDA/STAFF GRAPHIC
As residents cry foul,
whose backyard will
end up with a tower?
MONTGOMERY PINETUM, Cos Cob
MORE INSIDE:
You probably know where some cell towers and
antennas are around town, but do you know where
they all are? Find out on Page A6.
54 Bible St.,
Cos Cob
328 Palmer Hill Road,
North Mianus
AQUARION WATER CO. FACILITY,
455 Valley Road, Cos Cob
ST. CATHERINE OF
SIENA CHURCH,
4 Riverside Ave.,
Riverside
TOUGH
CELL
129 Bible St., Cos CobCOS COB ARCHERS,
205 Bible St., Cos Cob
By Frank MacEachern
STAFF WRITER
When Karen Sadik-Kahn
heard that a 157-foot cell
phone tower could rise among
the trees in the Montgomery
Pinetum in the heart of
Greenwich, her reaction —
along with fellow supporters
of the nature preserve — was
swift.
“We are totally opposed to
that. There should not be any
cell tower, or other develop-
ment, in the Pinetum,” said
Sadik-Kahn, who is president
of the Garden Education Cen-
ter, located on Bible Street in
the 91-acre Pinetum.
The Pinetum land was do-
nated to the town in the mid-
1950s on the condition that it
not be developed.
Cell towers, occasionally a
All of the above sites have been proposed as locations for a new T-Mobile cell tower.
Captain
positions
close to
being filled
By Debra Friedman
STAFF WRITER
The town is on its way to filling the
vacant command staff ranks of the po-
lice department after the deadline to
apply to four open captain positions ex-
pired earlier this week.
Those interested in the
position met with the first
selectman Tuesday to go
over the two-pronged pro-
cess that will be in place
to choose four officers to
be promoted to captain.
Although some more
senior lieutenants were
initially upset that the
vacant positions were
going to be open to all
lieutenants, the president
of the police union said
there is an understanding
between the rank and file
now as things proceed.
“The first selectman
was very forthcoming
with everyone,” said James Bonney,
president of the Silver Shield Associa-
tion. “He was clear and concise. He had
a process and if we had done this in
years past, we wouldn’t have had any
lawsuits.”
While the exact number of appli-
cants was unavailable Friday, officials
anticipated all 13 lieutenants applying
to the position. The applicants will then
be screened by an outside panel of for-
mer police chiefs hired by the town
through a consulting firm. The first
round of interviewing will take place on
Feb. 24, officials said.
Town
resents
paying
taxes
By Neil Vigdor
STAFF WRITER
If Greenwich had a town song, “You
Don’t Bring Me Flowers” would be in
the running.
For every $142 local residents pay out
in state income tax, Greenwich gets
about $1 back in municipal aid annually,
according to a new study by the South
Western Regional Planning Agency that
has town officials once again saying that
they are stuck in a one-way relationship.
“When the hard-working people of
southwestern Connecticut and other
pockets of Connecticut end up subsidiz-
ing large bureaucracies that do not
demonstrate much accountability and
tend to grow at unsustainable rates,
then you’re going to have, at some point,
a breakdown in the system,” said state
Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-36th District,
which includes Greenwich and parts of
Stamford and New Canaan.
“As tax rates go up to the point where
people realize that they are paying
much more than their fair share, they
tend to leave the state.”
Greenwich provided the state with
$758 million, or just over 14 percent, of
its income tax revenue in 2007, the
most recent year that figures were
available to the eight-municipality
planning consortium.
Scouts brave cold for annual competition
By Lisa Chamoff
STAFF WRITER
Ben Wurst pulled off his
gloves and, as the temperature
edged its way past 10 degrees,
looped a thin rope around three
long, wooden rods.
In just a few minutes the 13-
year-old had successfully demon-
strated lashing, using a rope to
secure items together, creating a
tripod that could be used over the
campfire roaring nearby. It was
one of the many skills that eight
Greenwich Boy Scout troops
practiced Saturday at the annual
Klondike Derby, a winter skills
and camping event held at the
Ernest Thompson Seton Reser-
vation, a 249-acre camp off Riv-
ersville Road.
“I’m going to be getting my
gloves back on,” insisted Ben, his
hands turning red from the cold.
The event lived up to its frosty-
sounding name. It was also one
of the few Klondike Derbies with
some snow on the ground, which
made the main event, the Iditar-
od, a bit easier. For the activity,
the Scouts built their own wood-
en sleds, load them up with gear
and race around the lake on the
property.
“Usually, we don’t have snow,”
said J.P. Hadley, a 14-year-old
from Troop 9. “It makes it easier
because it’s easier to pull the sled
over the snow.”
The event is named for the
Klondike gold rush along the
Klondike River in Yukon, Cana-
da, in the 1890s, simulating the
harsh conditions, and has been
held by Boy Scout troops across
the country for decades.
“The temperature is sort of
part of the experience,” said J.P.,
a student at Brunswick School.
“It adds to the competition,”
said 13-year-old Zach James of
Troop 35. “You’re battling the ele-
ments and the other team.”
Cos Cob Troop 10 from front, Kohtaro Tanaka, Ryan Olesen, R.J.
Lombardi and James Harnett fight a steep incline along the geo
tracking test route during the annual Klondike Derby, Greenwich Boy
Scouts’ winter skills and camping event at the Ernest Thompson Seton
Reservation on Riversville Road Saturday morning. Guided by a map
and compass, each troop pulls a dog sled loaded with equipment
through the woods stopping at different activity stations aimed at
further honing their scouting skills.
KEELIN DALY/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
See CELL on A6
RIDBERG
TESEI
See CAPTAIN on A6
Study finds Greenwich
residents aren’t getting
their money’s worth
See SCOUTS on A7
See RESIDENTS on A7

2. Cyan Magenta Yellow Black
controversial issue in Green-
wich when carriers seek to
expand their networks in
town, has leapt to the fore-
front of public debate once
again as residents have ral-
lied against several proposed
sites for a planned T-Mobile
tower.
T-Mobile’s initial plan to
erect a tower in the form of
an 80-foot flagpole on Palmer
Hill Road near North Mianus
School angered parents who
believe the health of their
children would be at risk.
They cited studies of a
higher risk of cancer and
other health issues due to the
electromagnetic radiation
from cell towers.
Additionally, there were
objections to the cell tower’s
height, which would rise far
above the approximately 40-
foot-high tree line.
Residents packed the
Town Hall Meeting Room last
June as the proposal was
being discussed by the Plan-
ning and Zoning Commission
to voice their objections.
They also organized a
campaign against the plan,
which led to town officials
huddling with T-Mobile rep-
resentatives throughout the
summer to see if there might
be other options.
Town officials suggested
the wireless carrier look at
six sites: St. Catherine of
Siena Church, 4 Riverside
Ave.; the E. Gaynor Brennan
Public Golf Course, 451 Still-
water Road, Stamford, near
the Greenwich town line;
town-owned property at 54
Bible St. in Cos Cob; the
Aquarion Water Co. facility
on Valley Road in Cos Cob;
129 Bible St. in the Montgom-
ery Pinetum and a second
site in the Pinetum in the
area behind the Garden Edu-
cation Center.
TOWN FAVORS 2 COS
COB SITES
Of those sites, 129 Bible
St. is the favored option, First
Selectman Peter Tesei said.
“I think that is the one
that is most viable and that I
am willing to consider in lieu
of having it go next to a
school,” he said.
Should the town enter
into an agreement with T-
Mobile for the Bible Street
site, the 157-foot cell tower
would be located on 5,625
square feet of town property
that it would lease for 10
years with the option to
renew for an additional 20
years in two segments. The
wireless carrier would re-
quire an additional 450
square feet at the site for elec-
trical equipment.
The town would receive
$2,500 in monthly rent that
would increase annually by 3
percent, as well as 20 percent
of any income generated by
T-Mobile’s subleasing of
space on the tower to other
carriers.
However, Tesei referred to
another site that borders the
Pinetum as a possible solu-
tion — land owned by the Cos
Cob Archers at 205 Bible St.
Founded in 1954, the club
owns a 23-acre site on which
archery enthusiasts enjoy
their sport.
Tesei said the archers ap-
proached the town about pos-
sibly building a tower on
their site.
“They were reading about
it in the newspaper,” he said.
“They approached Select-
man David Theis and said
they were interested and he
mentioned that to me.”
Tesei said it could mean
additional cash for the club.
“Clearly if they determine
it is in their interests as an
organization to earn revenue
to support the payment of
taxes and keep the land un-
developed, I think it would be
a tremendous benefit,” he
said.
When asked if he prefers
the archers site, Tesei said:
“If it was the Cos Cob Ar-
chers site instead of 129 Bible
St., the answer is yes.”
The Cos Cob Archers,
meanwhile, are staying quiet
on the issue.
Jeff Stempian, the club’s
president, declined to com-
ment and instead referred to
a brief release the archers is-
sued two weeks ago.
In it, the archers said that
if public opposition to other
locations is too strong, “then
placement in a private, wood-
ed location might be more
palatable.”
LACK OF LOCAL
CONTROL IRKS
RESIDENTS
Fred Camillo, who repre-
sents Cos Cob and North Mi-
anus in the state Legislature,
said his constituents believe
they are shut out of the tower
approval process.
“The people acknowledge
the fact there has to be sites
provided for these cell tow-
ers, but there is incredible
frustration over the fact
there is no local control,” he
said. “It ties our hands in
what we can do.”
The Planning and Zoning
Commission can only make
recommendations; it cannot
reject a cell tower, a power
that resides with the New
Britain-based Connecticut
Siting Council.
The federal Telecommu-
nications Act of 1996 pro-
hibits any state or local
agency from regulating tele-
communications towers on
the basis of the environ-
mental effects of radio fre-
quency emissions.
A consultant who works
with property owners on
placing cell towers on their
land or buildings said local
control would see far fewer
towers dotting the landscape.
And with that, more cell
phone users “dropping” or
losing their calls.
“If local control was pro-
vided, half of the towers in
the United States would not
exist,” said Ken Schmidt,
president of Fort Myers, Fla.-
based Steel In The Air. “You
would have everybody in the
world having different opin-
ions on it.”
Schmidt estimates there
could be as many as 150,000
to 175,000 cell towers in the
U.S.
Camillo acknowledged
that T-Mobile has worked
with local officials in search-
ing for another site instead
of pushing ahead with its ini-
tial choice of 328 Palmer Hill
Road.
“They could have gone up
to the siting council, but they
haven’t,” he said. “All the
parties are working in good
faith.”
Through all the contro-
versy, T-Mobile is keeping a
low public profile.
Jane Builder, senior man-
ager of external affairs for T-
Mobile, issued an e-mail
statement to Greenwich
Time.
She said the carrier is
looking at alternative sites in
town and is “eager to move
forward on a proposal as
soon as possible,” but didn’t
give a time frame.
ODDS AGAINST
TOWER OPPONENTS
In a response to a ques-
tion from the audience about
cell towers two weeks ago at
the Riverside Association’s
annual meeting, Camillo said
the odds were stacked against
defeating a cell tower propos-
al at the siting council.
Ninety-six percent of cell
tower applications are ap-
proved, he said. If the coun-
cil turns down applications,
“the cell companies go to
court and then they win.”
But Peter Berg, a mem-
ber of the Representative
Town Meeting for District
8/Cos Cob, challenged that
statistic.
“That statistic has been
going around, but you have
to understand most cell tower
applications don’t have any
opposition to them (when
they go to the siting coun-
cil),” said Berg, whose dis-
trict includes several of the
proposed tower sites.
Berg believes that if T-Mo-
bile chooses to present the
328 Palmer Hill Road option
to the siting council, local
residents had a very good
chance of overturning it be-
cause of the arguments they
have already marshalled
against the proposal.
He also noted that Green-
wich resident and state At-
torney General Richard
Blumenthal has also urged
T-Mobile to select another
site instead of Palmer Hill
Road.
On its Web site, the Siting
Council lists 25 cellular sites
in Greenwich, ranging from
a 115-foot tower tucked in the
woods behind the Round Hill
Community Church at 395
Round Hill Road, to a 70-foot
flagpole at 36 Ritch Ave.
T-MOBILE ALSO
EYEING BYRAM
It’s not only some in Cos
Cob and North Mianus who
are leery of a cell tower,
Byram residents and town
officials are also opposed to a
separate T-Mobile plan to
erect an 80-foot pole at 44 Tal-
bot Lane near Interstate 95’s
Exit 2.
Tesei, along with senior
zoning officials, met with T-
Mobile representatives this
past week. He said they urged
the company to look for an-
other location.
“We told them this is not
an acceptable site. There is
too much (population) densi-
ty,” he said. Also, the town is
concerned that the tower’s
location sits on top of some
underground infrastructure.
Placing the tower there
could make it difficult to ac-
cess the sewer system, he
said.
In the application T-Mo-
bile filed with the town’s
Planning and Zoning Com-
mission on Jan. 19, it said the
site, a 14,000-square-foot
property that includes a sin-
gle-family home, would im-
prove coverage in that sec-
tion of town as well as along
I-95.
It investigated six other
sites: 9 Tingue St.; 38 Gold St.;
34, 104 and 124 Ritch Ave.;
and 10 Hamilton St. AT&T
has a flag pole that it uses as
a cell tower at 34 Ritch Ave.
T-Mobile rejected each loca-
tion for a variety of reasons.
TOWER OPPONENTS
CITE ALTERNATIVES
Berg floated another op-
tion for wireless carriers to
consider — the Distributed
Antenna System (DAS).
Instead of a tower loom-
ing over a residential area,
DAS is a system in which an-
tennas are placed on tele-
phone poles or other struc-
tures that may only be 30 or
40 feet off the ground. These
“nodes,” as they are referred
to in the industry, emit less
power and cover a smaller
area.
Noting that the city of
Yonkers, N.Y., installed a
DAS system last year, Berg
suggested it could be consid-
ered for Greenwich.
“It sounds like a solution
here,” he said. “The town has
to somehow bring in this
other technology.”
But Schmidt, the consul-
tant on cell tower leasing,
said it is not as clear cut as
that.
“It costs substantially
more to deploy DAS than
building a tower; it’s about
three to four times as expen-
sive,” he said.
Schmidt said that it would
take about three or four
nodes to cover the same area
as a cell tower that may be
100 feet tall with antennas
sprouting out of it.
Staff Writer Frank MacEach-
ern can be reached at frank.
maceachern@scni.com or 203-
625-4434.
A6 GREENWICH TIME SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010
LOCATION TYPE HEIGHT USERS
1. 1 American Lane rooftop 60’ Sprint,T-Mobile, AT&T
2. 1 Fawcett Place rooftop 60’8” AT&T
3. 1 Greenwich Plaza — Arch Street rooftop 51’-100’ T-Mobile,Verizon, Sprint
4. 1081 North St./Banksville monopole 175’ Verizon, Sprint,T-Mobile, AT&T
5. 1111 E. Putnum Ave. rooftop 42’ T-Mobile, Sprint,Verizon
6. 1114 E. Putnum Ave. rooftop 73’6” AT&T
7. 20 Bowman Drive water Tank 114’ Verizon
8. 24 Butternut Hollow Road water Tank 130’ T-Mobile
9. 36 Ritch Ave. flagpole 70’ AT&T
10. 363 Riversville Road monopole 150’ AT&T, Sprint,Verizon,T-Mobile
11. 395 Round Hill Road-tower A monopole/stick 115’ Verizon, AT&T
12. 395 Round Hill Road-tower B monopole/stick 115’ Verizon,T-Mobile, Sprint
13. 411 W. Putnam Ave. rooftop 60’ AT&T, Sprint,Verizon,T-Mobile
14. 5 Perryridge Road monopole 164’ Verizon, Sprint,T-Mobile,
15. 50 E. Putnum Ave. rooftop 202’11”-204’ Sprint, AT&T
16. 606 Riversville Road church spire 85’2” Sprint,Verizon
17. 9 Sound Shore Drive power mount 133’ Sprint,Verizon
18. Bruce Mem Golf Course/King St self-supporting lattice 100’ Verizon
19. Butternut Hollow Road self-supporting lattice 180’ Verizon, AT&T,T-Mobile
20. DeKraft Road watertank n/a T-Mobile
21. Off Station Drive monopole 140’ T-Mobile
22. Sound Beach Avenue (CL&P #1255) power mount 95’ AT&T
23. Sound Shore Drive power mount 99’ AT&T, Sprint
24. Sound View Road power mount 99’ T-Mobile
25. Valley Road water tank 47’7” SNET
Existing cell towers, antennas in Greenwich
1
2 3
4
5 67
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
22
23
24
25
21
SOURCE: CONNECTICUT SITING COUNCIL
TIMOTHY GUZDA/STAFF GRAPHIC
BYRAM PARK
Henry
Street
STAFF GRAPHIC
Hamilton
Avenue
BYRAM
ROAD
Delavan Avenue
Mead
Avenue
T-Mobile proposes new
cell tower site in Byram
MONUMENT
PARK
Byram Shore
Street
Talbot Lane
Norias
Road
2
Continued from A1
Cell towers not desired by town residents
“It will be an independent
assessment center,” said First
Selectman Peter Tesei. “The
individuals will have no rela-
tionship to the entity in which
they are being asked to ac-
cess.”
While in the past, the
town had potential candi-
dates take a test and go
through role play in order to
gain a ranking, Tesei said
this process will mostly rely
on interviews and there will
be no list or ranking of can-
didates.
“The (panel) will select
the names of eight candi-
dates rated the most highly
in alphabetical order,” Tesei
said. “We have not asked for
any numeric scoring.”
The eight candidates who
move forward will then be
interviewed by Police Chief
David Ridberg and Tesei.
Those interviews will deter-
mine which officers will be
promoted to captain.
“Each of those inter-
viewed will be informed of
the outcome, but will be
asked to keep it confidential
until the formal announce-
ment is made,” Tesei said.
The first selectman said
the bulk of the interviews
will be about officers’ career
history, police experience
and answers to how they
would deal with certain hy-
pothetical situations.
Tesei said he thought it
was beneficial to have a
group of “disinterested par-
ties” narrow the initial pool
of candidates.
Bonney said he felt the of-
ficers who planned on apply-
ing to the position felt the
process was fair, although
some may still have some
frustrations with the past
few years in which they were
held back from advancing in
their careers.
Three years ago, five cur-
rent lieutenants were sched-
uled to take a promotional
test to an open captain’s spot,
but an injunction stemming
from a now resolved lawsuit
froze the position. The test
was never officially canceled,
leading some to believe they
would be able to take the test
before other, more junior lieu-
tenants became applicable.
“Some feel slighted and I
understand why,” said Bon-
ney. “But I think they accept
the process now.”
The injunction came from
a lawsuit filed by Lt. Gary Ho-
nulik, who sued the town after
claiming he was unfairly
passed over for a promotion to
captainin2003.Honulikscored
the highest on a promotion
exam, but was passed over
once a last-minute interview
was implemented. Although
he won a state Superior Court
trial, the state Supreme Court
overruled the decision in 2009,
saying the town had the right
to promote whomever they
wanted. The injunction left
the police department without
a full command staff for near-
ly three years.
Just to be extra clear this
time around, however, Tesei
said he had the human re-
sources department declassi-
fy the captain’s position and
informed the officers that the
promotions will not be done
based on numerical rankings.
Tesei said he felt the ini-
tial frustration from some of
the lieutenants had to do
with not being told that the
frozen captain’s test was not
going forward.
“I think some of their frus-
tration was that they would
have appreciated a notifica-
tion,” said Tesei.
“I was satisfied with the
outcome of the meeting and
the tone and tenor. It was a
good step toward bringing ev-
eryone together and to also
address some of the short-
comings and uncertainties as
it went forward.”
Tesei said he anticipates to
interview the second round
of candidates on March 15
and 16, with the hopes of an-
nouncing the new captains on
March 18.
Captain positions close to being filled by town
Continued from A1
FROM PAGE A1
Tesei said he anticipates to interview the
second round of candidates on March 15 and
16, with the hopes of announcing the new
captains on March 18.