NORTH ANDOVER
By Dan Tuohy, Globe Correspondent  |  June 18, 2006

Cingular is getting a cool reception on Chestnut Street.

But after more than a year of wrangling, the giant wireless company can install the antennas it wants in North Andover.

The Zoning Board of Appeals last week approved a variance to allow six antennas to be added to an existing 152-foot tower in the neighborhood, a move aimed at improving cell phone coverage.

The board opposed the request last year and the company appealed the decision in federal court. Last week's unanimous approval, given without public discussion as abutting property owners groaned in the audience, settled the federal litigation. The Planning Board, the town's permitting agency , previously approved a special permit for the 300 Chestnut St. site, pending the zoning board's reconsideration of the application.

Before zoning board chairwoman Ellen P. McIntyre could move to other business at the meeting, Robert Holmes of 396 Chestnut St. cried out that the additional antennas could create a harmful environment for nearby families because of radio-frequency radiation. Neighbors also said the resolution shows that companies can run roughshod over local government, despite existing zoning bylaws on cell tower sites.

``You need to contact your congressmen and senators," McIntyre said.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits towns and cities from banning towers and antennas, but it allows local government to regulate where and how they are placed.

The federal government has concluded there is minimal electromagnetic radio-frequency exposure from towers and antennas. ``Ground-level exposure from such antennas is typically thousands of times less than the exposure levels recommended as safe by expert organizations," the US Food and Drug Administration reported in its online consumer guide.

Kate MacKinnon, spokeswoman for Cingular Wireless, said the company is adding the antennas in response to consumers seeking better wireless coverage in the Merrimack Valley. The site in question is about half a mile from Merrimack College.

``We certainly appreciate their concerns," she said. ``We are constantly looking for creative solutions to work within the community."

Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., has corporate headquarters in Atlanta. It reported 54.1 million subscribers in 2005, up 5 percent from 2004, and revenues of $32 billion for 2004.

MacKinnon said Cingular has 700 employees in New England and an estimated 2,100 wireless sites in the region.

With more than 214 million cell phone users in America, communities continue to see applications for additional towers and antennas to eliminate dead zones.

In its earlier rejection of Cingular's petition, the zoning board concluded that the company addressed the issue of hardship as it pertains to dead zones, but that it provided insufficient information on soil, shape, and topography of the land or structures involved. Thus, it maintained, a 600-foot setback from adjacent residential property lines would not have involved substantial hardship, financial or otherwise.

Thomas J. Urbelis, the town's attorney, recommended the board approve the variance and recited a litany of legal reasons to do so. He began by citing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which Congress designed to set specific limitations on local governing bodies in order to promote the industry.

Urbelis said the additional antennas would be in keeping with part of the zoning bylaw that recommends co l location, the use of a site by more than one telecommunications carrier. And because other carriers are at the site, such as Sprint, denying Cingular would amount to unfair competition and an act of discrimination, he said.

The town counsel, reading a statement before the board, said that continued litigation would incur additional, unnecessary costs for the town, and that the site is well within federal standards for health requirements.

Town Manager Mark Rees compared it to the start of the 20th century, when people were upset with telephone poles going up everywhere. ``It's a balancing act," he said of federal law superseding local bylaws.

Other communities have been seeing similar applications as companies seek to modify, improve, or expand their equipment and coverage. Jay Szklut, the planning and economic development manager in Belmont, said most towns have worked well with companies on the siting and appearance of towers and antennas, including placing equipment in less visible areas. He said people continue to express concern about appearance and the potential radio-frequency radiation emitted.

Wireless carriers invested more than $19 billion to improve towers and transmitters in 2003, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, a non profit organization that bills itself as the ``voice of the wireless industry." The association estimates that more than $165 billion has been invested since the birth of the industry and that some local zoning authorities have acted unreasonably in denying tower permits.

But neighbors of the telecommunications site on Chestnut Street say reasonable limits are being overlooked. Steve Tryder of 386 Chestnut St. contends the area already has good cell phone coverage.

``My feeling is that Cingular is really just badgering the town," said Tryder. ``They're more concerned about having cell phone coverage than our health."

Alan Swahn of nearby 95 Kara Drive, who has a good view of the tower from his house, said the case shows the town's bylaws have little teeth. ``All we're saying is don't violate the setback," he said.