Since 1955, we have had a summer home on Chappaquiddick Road across from Sampson’s avenue.

Chappy is unique in its pristine beauty. That is why I have come back to our Chappy home every summer for the past 63 years and where I hope our nine-year-old son will grow up and return every year.

Edgartown is proposing to place a cell tower 117 feet high with hanging towers across the street from us. We live in one of the most densely populated areas of Chappy. Locating a cell tower on Sampson’s avenue will create an eyesore that will decrease the property values of my home and 30 or so other homes. The tower will be visible to every visitor as it close to, and is clearly visible from, the only paved road on Chappy.

With the increasing expectation of cell phone reception in even the remotest locations, this might be a hard decision if there were no remote locations on Chappy. But Chappy is reportedly 40 per cent open space. There are locations on Chappy that will be far less visible to both residents and visitors.

We do not have to sacrifice the unique beauty of a national treasure like Chappaquiddick for cell phone reception. We can have both with careful and deliberate planning.

I was unable to make the planning board meeting in July, so I made a special effort to be at the continuation of the public hearing on August 21. Unfortunately, the planning board permitted only the attorney for AT&T to speak at the public hearing, none of the Chappy residents were permitted to speak. This is what I intended to say:

We ask the town to proceed with care and not act in haste to demands for better cell service. It is Chappaquiddick’s unique natural beauty which attracts both summer residents and tourists, the backbone of Edgartown’s economy. Please safeguard that beauty as it is why I, and so many others, come back to Chappy every year.

Brad Conover

New York city and Chappaquiddick