[MassHistPres] Bell Tower Telecommunications Antennae

Wed Nov 25 11:32:25 EST 2009

Long-term sustainability for historic buildings is only assured if the
buildings continue to have economically viable uses-otherwise, nobody
can afford to take care of them.  But economic viability is often driven
by short-term financial imperatives that conflict with historic
preservation needs.  The only solution is vigilance, and finding viable
uses that do not conflict with the historic character of the building.

Jonathan Tucker

Planning Director

Amherst Planning Department

4 Boltwood Avenue, Town Hall

Amherst, MA  01002

(413) 259-3040

tuckerj at amherstma.gov    

From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of jade
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:38 PM
To: Tristram Metcalfe 3; dgkalman4 at cs.com
Cc: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Bell Tower Telecommunications Antennae

i agree that a cell phone offers critical human access when one driver
talking on their cell phone rams into another driver talking on their
cell phone...a pedestrian walking by talking on their cell phone can put
the first caller on hold while they dial 911....(i live in western ma
and have no reception for a 10 mile radius from my home...verizon lied!)

as i understand it, the original poster stated that the phone company
requested replacing the venting louvers and the top of the steeple with
a 'replica' in fiberglass....there was no mention of deterioration of
the components...

in both the examples given of your respective historic commission
approvals, it appears the designer/installer tried more than once to
pull a fast one over on y'all...beware of plastic resin precedents and
those who request/install them....

there is nothing more sustainable than a an old building still
standing...as one preservationist observed in a discussion regarding
window restoration vs window replacement "the only thing worse than
replacing original fabric is arson"....

i can certainly see the quandary inherent in making choices when a big
chunk of maintenance sustaining cash is at hand...

to be continued.......

....jade

heartwood window restoration

	----- Original Message ----- 

	From: Tristram Metcalfe 3 <mailto:twm3 at rcn.com>  

	To: jade <mailto:jade at crocker.com>  ; dgkalman4 at cs.com 

	Cc: james howard <mailto:jmhoward22 at verizon.net>  ; Robin
Ragle-Davis <mailto:robin at rrinteractive.com>  ; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu 

	Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:31 PM

	Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Bell Tower Telecommunications
Antennae

	Answering David first,

		Rents for cell towers are pretty steep Is there any sort
of community benefit for these changes.   David Kelman

	Yes absolutely there is  HUGE public benefit to cell towers in
steeples or towers of historic buildings.

	1. it gives very important financial help to churches typically
sorely needing maintenance support and

	2. it provides critically important human access to community
with cell radio wave technology providing life safety, quality of life
convenience in both business and family connections.

	Here in Western Mass we experience some of the worst cell
coverage in the developed world, as we watch the cell companies spending
millions advertising with their bold faced lies about how great their
coverage is while they have largely stopped building towers. Even some
heavily populated areas have dead cell zones. 

	We are restoring a church into a performing arts center and it
now has two cell companies inside its tower. It is a a very low cost
platform for them. The funds it will produce will be critical in the
pro-forma of sustainability to maintain the beautiful architecture on
into the future benefiting the public many ways.

	On the topic of materials, in now over 30 years of fighting to
preserve historic buildings, I have to say; If you can't tell its not
wood but is a much longer lasting material holding paint much longer it
then will preserve the history longer and ultimately can be seen as a
better job. On the other hand If it is readily apparent it is not wood
when it was before restoration, we might all agree it should remain as
wood. 

	The more critical issue is the authentic proportions of the trim
as being far more important than the materials in a restoration. 

	I have seen a steeple restored that used authentic materials but
lost the true proportions and slope of some small detail proportions in
only one area, and it is very sad to see. I would agree with Jade
totally if the fiberglass is not PERFECTLY copied from the original wood
to the nearest 1/4".

	Our commission recently approved a small cell antenna on the
exterior of a stone steeple and it was ultimately a mistake even if not
a real noticeable one. They faked the drawing dimensions twice, and then
did a photo shop rendering that was obviously unrealistic and we at each
stage corrected them but in the final build it still fell short of
optimum. Cell antenna inside is far better but still watch out for the
exterior details.

	As materials get better in sustainability and performance while
being virtually impossible to identify up close, it seems very unwise to
continue a false perception about the importance of what kind of
molecules are under the paint if it adds performance and greatly lowers
the cost of preservation into the future. 

	If we ever [hopefully] arrive at a civilization that truly
understands and values historic architecture and thus the financial
support is no longer critical,, then the true low performance materials
can always be returned, but staying true to the detail proportions is an
under appreciated value.

	Tris Metcalfe

	On Nov 24, 2009, at 7:41 PM, jade wrote:

	how sad for the town of wenham and the bell tower of the
congregational church....as the saying goes, looks can be
deceiving......introducing the frankensteeple....

	i mean no disrespect to any individual but it is truly beyond me
how an historic commission can approve replacing architectural wood
components with fiberglass especially at the request of a cell phone
company for monetary gain....

	....jade

	heartwood window restoration

		----- Original Message ----- 

		From: james howard <mailto:jmhoward22 at verizon.net>  

		To: Robin Ragle-Davis <mailto:robin at rrinteractive.com>
; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu 

		Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:16 PM

		Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Bell Tower
Telecommunications Antennae

		Robin,  Here in Wenham we have approved a cell antenna
in the bell tower of 
		the Congregational Church in the center of the Wenham
Historic District. 
		The main antenna is inside of the bell tower and cannot
be seen from the 
		outside.   There were black wooden louvers on the
outside walls of the bell 
		tower.  The cell company, T-Mobile requested that these
black louvers be 
		replaced with fiber glass louvers.  We asked them to
send us a sample of the 
		fiberglass louvers.  They did and the fiber glass
louvers looked exactly 
		like wooden ones so we approved them.  They also asked
to put a short 15 
		inch GPS antenna on the base of the bell tower.  We told
them that this 
		short outside antenna had to be placed in the rear
portion of the bell tower 
		so that it would not be visible from the street.
Unfortunately they put in 
		the front but of the bell tower but have agreed to move
it to the rear. 
		There was one other outside component, and AC condenser
which has been 
		placed on a portion the foundation that is below grade
and thus not visible 
		form the street.  We approved this also.  All of this
has been installed and 
		should begin operating in a week or so.

		We also have an application for a second antenna to be
placed in the portion 
		of the steeple that is above the bell tower.  Again the
main antenna will be 
		inside the steeple.  However the cell company proposed
to replace this whole 
		wooden section at the top of the steeple with a
fiberglass replica.  We have 
		been looking at other churches with fiberglass steeples
and it is virtually 
		impossible to tell the difference.  My guess is that we
will approve this 
		antenna when we get the formal application.

		Jim Howard
		Chair
		Wenham Historic District Commission
		----- Original Message ----- 
		From: "Robin Ragle-Davis" <robin at rrinteractive.com>
		To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
		Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 3:37 PM
		Subject: [MassHistPres] Bell Tower Telecommunications
Antennae

		> Has anyone reviewed a request for installation of
antennae (75 ft or  so) 
		> within a church bell tower?
		>
		> If so does anyone have photos of what this might look
like?
		>
		> Robin Ragle-Davis, Chair
		> Wareham Historical Commission
		>
		>
		>
		>
		>
		>
		>
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