Northborough, MAssachusetts
Board of Appeals
December, 1997

  We note with great sadness the passing during 1997 of Richard Dingley, long-standing and faithful Board member, who was actively doing the Board's work into the last week of his life.

   The Board of Appeals meets as required to hear and act on petitions. Our meetings are of course open, and often quite interesting. We invite townspeople and others to attend. The thirty one petitions filed in '97 were more numerous than the previous year's filings for the fourth year in succession, an indication that development pressure in Northborough remains strong.

   1997 was the first year of cellular telephone petitions for Northborough, five were filed. We granted two, one along l - 290 near the Church Street interchange and the other on Edmund Hill, both of which grants encourage co-location of several arrays on one cell tower. We denied one petition, on Mount Assabet, and at this writing do not know if that denial will be appealed by the petitioner. Two petitions were withdrawn, one because the petitioner will co-locate on the Edmund Hill tower. The Town has passed a moratorium until the Spring '98 Town Meeting or June 30, 1998, whichever is earlier, to allow time to develop and propose relevant amendments to the Zoning Bylaw. The Board of Appeals looks forward the possibility of further definition regarding antennas in the Bylaw, which until now has been essentially silent on the subject. We expect more, perhaps many more, cell tower petitions in the future.

   As noted in last year's report, our '96 decision on the Airborne for Men petition was appealed by the petitioner. The Town opposed the appeal. Attorneys from both sides worked out a settlement fully satisfactory to the Town's interests, which we expect will be completed early in '98.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
WILLIAM RAWSTRON, CHAIRMAN;
HARVEY THOMASIAN, CLERK;
FRANK RUSSELL, MEMBER;
RICHARD PEDONE, ALTERNATE

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