Burrillville School Committee backs site B for Masonville water tower, bars telecom uses as caveat

The Burrillville School Committee voted July 14 to endorse site B as the town’s preferred location for a Masonville water tower, adding a stipulation that the site not be used for telecommunications company activity and that construction not interfere with the middle-school cross-country route.

Ray Gough, who presented engineering options to the committee, described three candidate sites on or adjacent to school property. He told the committee the town preferred site B because it minimized impacts to existing recreation areas and would simplify routing and distribution into Nasonville and Harrisville. Gough said the project would require a tower to create distribution pressure and that the preferred tower designs have internal ladders and would be fenced for safety.

Committee members raised safety and logistics concerns, including temporary construction access roads, fire-truck and delivery access behind the school, and the potential loss of cross-country routes. One member urged adding a prohibition on future telecommunications co-location, saying, “the next thing you know, you’ve got 50 different telecommunications companies posting on there,” and asked that the committee communicate that caveat to the town.

A motion to approve site B with those caveats was moved, seconded and carried by voice vote; the chair announced the motion carried.

What happens next: the town and school staff will refine the logistics, including fencing and construction access, and determine any formal lease or subdivision details needed to separate the tower footprint from school property.