Several Collinsville Residents Express Concerns After Balloon Test

Several Collinsville residents, most from Dyer Avenue, expressed concerns to the Board of Selectmen Wednesday night after the town conducted a balloon test to help assess the impact a cell tower would have at the Collinsville Fire Station.

Several of the residents said they were neutral or mildly favorable to the idea until they saw the 150-foot balloon. Others said the negative impact to the river area and other parts of Collinsville would be significant

"My thoughts about having a cell phone tower there I have to say were rather ambivalent this morning when I woke up but when I looked at my back porch about 9:10 I was shocked," said Dyer Avenue resident David Sinish.

Christopher M Grinnell, also of Dyer Avenue, said the neighborhood has a nice mix of uses but is not an appropriate place for a tower.

"That would make the character very different and not pleasant," he said.

Selectmen have previously discussed the tower idea and the town has had preliminary conversations with Global Tower Partners, which is interested in the station as a potential location. The company also initially expressed interest in the community center but later nixed the location.

At previous meetings, Chief Administrative Officer Robert Skinner has raised a couple of possibilities. For one, the town could reject the idea, only to have a tower end up on private property. Since the Connecticut Siting Council approves cell tower locations and local boards have no control over them, such a scenario would leave the town with no control or potential revenue, he said.

Skinner also told selectmen that another approach would be to determine a location they prefer and accept proposals.

Wednesday night several of the residents urged selectmen to look for other potential locations.

The town took various pictures of the balloon. Several of them can be seen here.