150 Foot High Eye-Sore at Ecotarium Has City Council Outraged

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Thursday, December 18, 2014

Patrick Sargent, GoLocal Worcester Contributor

On Tuesday, District 2 City Councilor Phil Palmieri urged the Worcester City Council to vote for City Manager Ed Augustus to consider actions that would impede the progress of a 150-foot high cell tower on conservation land owned by the Ecotarium. The vote resulted in favor of City Manager Augustus to consider withholding $300,000 to be paid for Ecotarium's conservation land restrictions. Members of the city council made their voices heard and their opinion known.

"Its an unenviable task the City Manager is being asked. This is beyond the City Manager really. This is the corporate soul of a non-profit being tested. That’s what it is. The Board of Directors, the benefactors, many of them are citizens in the city of Worcester, and if they can look the neighborhood in the eye and say ‘That cell tower near the choo-choo train is ugly, but it’s beautiful in the conservation land,’ then God bless them. The reality is it’s no different. They just don’t want it to affect the beauty and esthetic of going to the Ecotarium. If you want to reap the profits of it, you have to take some of the losses that come with it," said City Councilor- At-Large Frederick Rushton.

Ecotarium And Neighborhood Could Battle it Out

The Ecotarium is a non-profit organization that has been in the city at its current location since 1971. The proposed site of the cell tower is the land owned by the Ecotarium across the street from the museum site on Harrington Way, a residential neighborhood. 

Gary Vecchio, President of the Shrewsbury Street Neighborhood Association, said "My understanding is that the Ecotarium may be getting $20,000 to $40,000 a year per utility that actually puts a cell phone tower there. So they wanted to get that on top of the $300,000. That cell phone tower will be able to seen from many areas in the city even as far as the Worcester Airport. It's just so inappropriate. The people up there are being so fair. They're saying 'Hey, put it on your land. On your side of the streets away from the homes.' The Ecotarium hasn't been good neighbors and have been sneaky about this for a year and a half."

“I can’t think of a federal piece of legislation that’s worse than this. It’s ridiculous that they think they can put these things anywhere they want," said Palmieri. "The Ecotarium is a great place and I’m proud to support it, but for a year and half there were discussions and they were not letting the community be a part of it. I just think that’s wrong. There’s been a fair relationship with the Ecotarium and the community, and not having this open discussion, and having it behind closed doors for a year and a half, makes this a very difficult fix to site a cell tower on conservation land.”

The Harrington Way area is also home to North High School and Jack Barry Little League fields. 

“It’s a beautiful district. There are some magnificent neighborhoods. You cannot maintain property values the same if you have a cell phone tower next to your house the same as the day before the cell phone tower was erected. I understand we all need cell phone towers to go up. We all have cell phones. We all benefit from cell phones. Cell phone towers are throughout the city of Worcester. The presumption is that if they are able to improve dropped calls, you should not require them to go through any elaborate zoning area procedures and give them permission," said City Councilor Morris Bergman.

"It's totally inappropriate from an institution that claims they want to get along. They dont' pay taxes. It's just not right. I think people should start boycotting the Ecotarium until they come up with a resolution and we shouldn't pay them $300,000 until they start acting like good neighbors and at least start to look at alternatives," said Vecchio.

Augustus said, "This is a very highly-charged issue and the neighbors certainly have a number of concerns. I’ve been up there many times with the Ecotarium looking at the different locations trying to find alternatives. It’s phenomenally complicated.”

Rushton Blasts Ecotarium

Rushton said,"Here’s the perplexing thing about this whole issue. The Ecotarium has a lot of property. They have a beautiful spot, it’s wooded, where the choo-choo train takes you on a ride. They don’t want to place it where the train is because it would disturb the little children going on their ride. They would rather permanently affix it in the conservation area so all the residents that live there 24/7/365 see it. So little Johnny and little Julia who come in for two hours and take the little choo-choo train ride they can’t see the ugly cell tower, but the residents who live there will see it 24/7/365."

"If you want the money, and if you believe you’re a good neighbor, then put the tower on the area that doesn't’t affect the neighborhood.  You can’t have it both ways and say you’re a good neighbor if you believe it’s only pretty on one side of the street," said Rushton.

Bergman said, "There’s a lot of unknowns and there is still some opportunity for the City Manager to try to work on a resolution. This is not a case of the neighborhood not wanting the Ecotarium to put the cell phone tower anywhere. They want their suggestion for it go somewhere less intrusive to be appreciated by the Ecotarium and to seriously be considered.”

"My preferred solution is can we find another location that makes sense and that fits all of the challenges that we are talking about it," Augustus said. 

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