land use

Editor’s note: The following was one of several comments made on the March 29 story about proposed MBTA monopoles and is reprinted as a letter with the permission of Mr. Domnitz, who served on the Planning Board from 2003-2015.

To the editor:

Although it is never easy to accept the preemptive authority of a state agency, a potential benefit of the proposed towers is that they may finally provide a relatively benign solution to the coverage gaps in two neighborhoods that have been relentlessly targeted by cellular telephone companies—the Red Rail Farm/Walden Pond area, and the Route 117 corridor near the Weston line.

About 11 years ago, the Planning Board did a comprehensive town-wide study of potential cell tower sites in an attempt to relieve the pressure we were experiencing from cell phone carriers who were seeking to locate at will throughout the town. Ironically, we identified the MBTA right-of-way sites near Red Rail Farm and Weston as viable options, but we were unable to arouse any interest from the MBTA. They are now interested, and they seem willing to work with Lincoln stakeholders.

A few points:

1. The Planning Board should reach out to the affected neighborhoods and invite them to attend the April 26 meeting. The Walden Woods Project and DCR [Department of Conservation and Recreation]/Walden Pond should also be notified.
2. Although the MBTA appears to be exempt from local zoning, the Planning Board should assess the extent to which the current proposals do not comply with current zoning dimensional controls. This might help the town negotiate any issues of concern to abutters.
3. The Planning Board should consider whether it makes sense to put the proposed sites into the Wireless Communications Facilities overlay district. This might provide some benefit to the town in the future by discouraging cell phone companies from attempting to negotiate siting with other property owners.

Sincerely,

Bob Domnitz
21 Mill St.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Yellow stars indicate the three sites in Lincoln where the MBTA is proposing to put monopoles (click to enlarge).

By Alice Waugh

The MBTA plans to install three monopole towers along the commuter rail tracks in Lincoln to comply with a federal mandate for emergency train stop controls. The concrete towers will range in height from about 65 to 75 feet.

Because the pole sites are within the MBTA’s right of way, the agency is not required to obtain approval from town land use boards unless the sites fall within a wetlands area, said Director of Planning and Land Use Jennifer Burney, adding that she heard about the plan only indirectly.

At least one of the towers will have “multiple arrays” of antennas for both train control and passenger Wi-Fi access, according to a Request for Determination of Applicability submitted to the Conservation Commission by Ramaker & Associates, a Wisconsin engineering firm hired by the MBTA. The tower will also support a radio equipment cabinet, and a 5-by-5-foot pad is proposed to support future radio equipment.

In response to a request from the town, the MBTA will attend the Lincoln Planning Board meeting on April 26 to give an overview of the project and answer questions. Representatives from the Conservation Commission and the Walden Woods Project will also attend, Burney said.

The monopoles will carry telecommunications equipment for a computerized system that combines GPS and wireless radio to monitor trains for excessive speed or proximity and to stop them before a collision or derailment can result. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Positive Train Control regulations stem from the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

The MBTA plans to install a total of 330 poles along the commuter rail system starting in April with the Fitchburg and Rockport lines, said Jason Johnson, deputy press secretary for the MBTA.

The MBTA has also entered into a partnership with inMotion Wireless to offer commuter rail and boat passengers free Wi-Fi and broadband Internet access. The contractor paying for the monopole installations will also “have the option to examine private revenue generation” by adding antennas for cell phone companies and other commercial users, Johnson said.

To work properly, the poles need to be a maximum distance apart depending on the curvature of the track. They are being spaced as far apart as possible (an average of 1.3 miles) to minimize the number of poles required, and sites in “the least obtrusive areas available” were chosen, Johnson said. “In addition, this infrastructure has been designed as a multi-use structure that could support the needs for additional projects in the future, limiting the need for redundant building on the right of way,” he said.

Burney said MBTA officials told her that they might be open to suggestions about altering the locations of the monopoles only if there were “very small adjustments” of less than 30 feet involved. They have also agreed in principle to a “balloon test” where a tethered balloon is sent aloft at each site up to the height of the proposed pole so people in the area can see how high the top of each pole will be, and from what distance it can be seen, she said.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission has requested a “viewshed” analysis and archeological survey of the planned monopole site near where Route 126 goes over the train tracks. That area is close to the Walden Woods historical landscape as well as a Native American cremation and burial site that has not yet been systematically investigated.