American Tower Corporation, the company that wants to build a distributed antenna system (DAS) to improve cell phone coverage in the three up-Island towns, has dramatically changed its proposal following an emotional public hearing earlier this month during which residents raised concerns about aesthetics, finances and health, a company spokesman said yesterday.

In the face of federal laws which leave local zoning regulations powerless, West Tisbury officials are grappling with one of the first of a likely onslaught of requests for cellular phone towers dotting the town's rural landscape.

It's a familiar fight for the West Tisbury zoning board of appeals.