SAVE OUR VALLEY

SAVE OUR VALLEY

One of the most beautiful Valleys in Western Massachusetts is about to be despoiled by an AT&T 110 foot, Eleven-Story cell tower that has been demonstrated in public hearings to both violate the Planning Board’s By-Laws and to be redundant.

Please join Save Our Valley in assisting the residents and abutters of the proposed cell tower site in appealing the Ashfield Planning Board’s decision to allow a special permit for the construction of this eleven-story cell tower. You can help by making a Go Fund Me donation below to help defray the legal costs of filing an appeal challenging the Planning Board’s decision.

Our Valley

South Ashfield, east of Williamsburg Road and west of the Conway town line, is what one local landscape architect has called, “the most beautiful valley in Ashfield; perhaps all of Massachusetts.” Bordered by mature timbered ridges and bisected by Murray Road, a narrow country lane that wanders north to south from ridge to ridge, this special place is a destination for walkers, runners and bikers who come for the uninterrupted beauty and unspoiled vistas.

The southern ridges of the valley are unspoiled because the Trustees' Bullitt Reservation protects a “262 acre parcel of rolling fields and deep forests… this eye-pleasing blend of fields and farm buildings, mixed woodlands, and streams forms a crucial link in almost 3,000 acres of protected land.”

Thanks to farseeing Planning Board Members, the Board has very specific legal standing in its by-laws to address this proposal: “The primary purposes of these by-laws are to promote and enhance the Town's rural atmosphere and character; to encourage the appropriate use of land; to conserve the physical characteristics of neighborhoods; to promote the conservation of natural resources and to prevent pollution of the environment.”

It is in the very heart of this pristine setting, however, that the Ashfield Planning Board is permitting a variance for an Eleven-Story cell tower at 2003 Conway Road to provide a small section of 116 and South Ashfield with emergency cell service.

Save Our Valley’s Alternative

The Planning Board has judiciously held three public meetings to consider the pros and cons of this project. At the February 17, 2021 Planning Board meeting, the reputable cell tower consulting firm, Isotrope LLC, presented a ten page analysis and a well considered plan that would obviate the need for the proposed eleven story cell tower at 2003 Conway Road and that would provide significantly better coverage for emergency services on Rt 116, as well as for South Ashfield and Ashfield Center. This is what Isotrope concluded:

This analysis concludes that there is a solution to providing coverage in Ashfield that is less detrimental to the purpose of the bylaws than the proposed tower at 2003 Conway Road. Ashfield would be far better served with good coverage from a site like the Pollen Family Trust property off Baptist Corner Road, where Vertex has a lease to locate a tower. Since a tower in the vicinity of Ashfield Center, such as the Pollen-Vertex site, is needed anyway, and by deferring the proposed site to enable the Vertex-Conway site, one less tower is needed in Ashfield.

Conway needs the Conway Vertex tower to address not only the remaining gap on Route 116 that the proposed tower fails to reach, but also the North Poland Road area that the proposed facility would not reach.

The Pollen-Vertex site provides substantially better service to the center of Ashfield and a much larger area around the center, including South Ashfield.

The proposed 2003 Conway Road tower is on a ridge, requiring a finding that it is the least detrimental solution.

The Planning Board’s King Solomon Decision

In rendering its findings the Planning Board has acted in good faith and publicly acknowledged:

“that the wireless facility will have a significant adverse impact on neighborhood character. Testimony clearly and repeatedly voiced concerns about the negative impacts of this facility on the neighborhood character, particularly the areas in and around Murray Road to the west of the proposed facility.

The Board had to carefully weigh these in making its decision about a structure that challenges the Town’s rural and aesthetic character.”

However, The Board’s modifications of moving the proposed tower Eleven-Story cell tower 150 feet to the east have not been empirically demonstrated to have resolved the above concerns or the violation of the Planning Board by-laws that such a proposed tower violate. Nor have any of the other of the Board’s 16 additional conditions been empirically demonstrated to have addressed the Board’s stated concerns or the violation of the Planning Board’s by-laws. The Board has in a sense rendered a Judgement of King Solomon of cutting the baby in two.

Please join Save Our Valley

Please join Save Our Valley’s Go Fund Me today with a donation that will assist the neighbors and abutters of the proposed tower Eleven-Story cell tower in retaining the best legal counsel available in the state of Massachusetts with the knowledge and expertise to challenge AT&T corporate juggernaut and its litigious legal department.