AT&T has submitted a plan to the Edgartown conservation commission to tear down two large silos at Katama Farm and replace them with a single silo that would house a cell tower.
Tensions over the use of Katama Farm by the Trustees of Reservations came to a head before the Edgartown conservation commission this week.
The preservation of rare sandplain grasslands at Katama and in West Tisbury will get a boost thanks to some $46,000 in grant money awarded by Gov. Charlie Baker last week to the Trustees of Reservations.
The larger of two barns at the town-owned property leased by the Farm Institute has a failed roof and water has been leaking through. This week selectmen awarded a contract for replacing the roof that covers the 8,400-square-foot barn.
A long-awaited project to bring improved cell service to the Katama part of Edgartown moves forward this week, following the completion of a lease with telecommunications company AT&T.
The company will pay the town $28,000 per year for the use of an abandoned silo at Katama Farm.
Changes have been approved to an agreement between the town and the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative Inc. (CVEC) to create solar arrays on town-owned parcels of land. The projects are expected to save the town millions in electricity costs down the road.
The Edgartown Planning Board Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to place a cell antenna in an abandoned silo in Katama, despite some opposition from neighbors. At meetings over the last few months, Katama residents had opposed AT&T’s plan to place the antenna in an abandoned silo at the Farm Institute, citing perceived concerns about radiation affecting property values and the Farm Institute’s donations, sales of produce and meat, and summer camp program. Farm Institute representatives said if the tower posed a risk to visitors or livestock, they would not have let the project go forward.
