Charlemont petition for 350-foot small-cell setback referred to Planning Board

Jonathan Mirin presented a citizen petition to the Selectboard on Jan. 26 seeking to revise Charlemont's telecommunications bylaw to require a 350-foot setback between small-cell antennas and residential structures. The petitioner said procedural steps were not followed at the last Annual Town Meeting, so the article could not be forwarded to the Attorney General without the required public hearing and Planning Board review.

Nic Miller, a downtown Charlemont resident who attended with Mirin, said he was concerned about the potential placement of a small-cell antenna directly in front of his son’s street-facing bedroom window. Mirin told the board he fears cellular providers offering lower-cost internet could undercut the town’s municipal-broadband investment and said the setback would give the town an additional regulatory tool; providers could still request variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Town Administrator Sarah Reynolds explained the next steps: the Selectboard must first receive the petition, then refer it to the Planning Board, which will hold the required public hearing(s) and issue a recommendation before the article could be placed on a future Town Meeting warrant or sent to the Attorney General. Under current zoning there is no setback requirement, so the petition would add a new standard.

Selectboard member Jared Bellows moved to pass the citizen’s petition to the Planning Board; Kim Blakeslee seconded. The motion carried with Blakeslee and Bellows voting Aye; Wilder Sparks, participating by phone, abstained because he was unable to hear portions of the discussion. The referral starts the Planning Board process and does not itself change zoning.

The Planning Board will schedule public hearings and issue a recommendation; the timeline for any Town Meeting article was not specified in the meeting record.