Panel rejects 2 towers plan

NASHUA – In stark contrast to two weeks ago, about 25 people showed up to a meeting to urge a school board committee to turn down erecting two telecommunication towers on school district properties.

The school board’s Finance and Operations Committee, which was in favor of the towers at the Oct. 23 meeting, reversed its position and voted unanimously to recommend against the proposal Monday night.

The board’s Finance and Operations Committee voted 3-0 to recommend “no’’ on a proposal by Goodman Networks to build WiMax towers on the grounds of two schools: Birch Hill Elementary and Nashua High School North.

Committee chairman Jack Kelley joined members Robert Haas and William Mosher in recommending the full Board of Education reject the proposals at its next meeting Nov. 9.

Jack Baringer of Goodman Networks said Clearwire Corp., which would own and operate the towers, would pay the city $1,500 a month in rental fees for each of the two sites, or $36,000 annually.

Residents, mostly from the Birch Hill neighborhood, said that was not enough to hire a single teacher and would be a paltry price to get for structures that could endanger children and devalue homes.

“I think you’d buy an awful lot of headaches for a very little bit of revenue,’’ Alderman-at-Large Brian McCarthy said.

Overall, about a dozen residents spoke, all in to opposition the towers. Michael Gallagher, a candidate for alderman in Ward 5, also spoke out against the towers.

“This is not the intent of the property,” Gallagher said. “It should be used for education.’’

Residents said they remained unconvinced the proposed towers would not pose a threat to public heath, even though there is no conclusive proof the towers cause cancer or other afflictions. “Your job as a board is to look out for the students, and neither of these proposals benefit the students in any way,’’ said Edwina Kwan, a former member of the Board of Education.

Goodman Networks wanted to build a 130-foot structure in back of the play area at Birch Hill. It proposed a 150-foot tower for a site near the Nashua River, away from school activities at Nashua High School North. Both structures would be disguised as pine trees.

Residents tried to get Ward 1 Alderman Mark Cookson, a candidate for Alderman-at-Large in today’s election and whose ward includes both schools, to take a firm position on the issue.

When Cookson hesitated, Kelley interrupted. “This is not the place for politics,’’ Kelley said.

Shawn Smith, director of plant operations for the school district, has said if school officials turned down the proposals, they would be dead and not resurrected by Goodman Networks or Clearwire.