CHARLEMONT — Although the town opted against updating its cell tower bylaws at the request of resident Jonathan Mirin in 2021, the Planning Board may discuss the topic on Thursday.

Mirin is a Charlemont resident and co-founder of Hilltown Health, an organization that pushes for responsible technology on behalf of healthy, sustainable communities in western Massachusetts.

“Most of the towns in Franklin County have a 20-plus-year-old cell tower bylaw that doesn’t apply to today’s technology,” Mirin argued. “I’m trying to make the town have more leverage when they get an application.”

Mirin worked with the Planning Board beginning in 2021 to update the town’s bylaws regarding cell towers. However, when the proposed bylaws were brought to the Broadband Committee, Chair Bob Handsaker argued they were too general.

“There are lots of devices now and in the future that would be included in the bylaw that we haven’t anticipated,” Planning Board Chair Bob Nelson explained.

The revisions brought forward the last time the board attempted to edit the bylaws changed the term “cell tower” to “commercial radio service” (CRS). Mirin said this broadens the technology the board can regulate.

The revisions also proposed prohibiting the building of cell towers in the Village Center District. Additionally, there are two pages of definitions, including a $50,000 minimum fee in the event that a tower is abandoned and adding a balloon test during the application process.

“We told him last time to work with Bob Handsaker to see if they might be able to come up with language that would be more usable,” Nelson said of Mirin.

The proposed bylaws can be revised further if the Planning Board decides to take up the issue. Thursday’s meeting, which includes on the agenda public comment from Mirin as well as the current cell tower bylaws and potential revisions, will start at 6 p.m. at Town Hall.

Mirin has provided examples for the Planning Board to study to make decisions about its own bylaws. These included revisions Shelburne made to its bylaws in 2018 and a short excerpt from the 50 pages of bylaws that were created to regulate cell towers in Woodstock, New York.

“These paragraphs seem like a lot, but to compare this to what a town like Woodstock did, it shows we want a clear system to regulate cell towers,” Mirin said.

Mirin said he hopes the Planning Board and concerned citizens will make compromises to regulate cell towers in Charlemont.

“It is not saying there will be no towers,” he noted.

Currently, there is one cell tower in Charlemont at Berkshire East Mountain Resort. Mirin said Charlemont is in a good place to add new cell tower regulations now that fiber-optic cables for broadband have been installed so there is less of a need for wireless connections.

The Planning Board agreed to look at the material provided by Mirin, being that there are several new members on the board compared to 2021 when the issue was last discussed, and vote on whether to revise the cell tower bylaws. Nelson mentioned the Planning Board only has the authority to make bylaws regulating aesthetics, not radio frequency.

“In terms of aesthetics, I don’t have an issue with the small poles. Since we are trying to regulate the waves, I don’t think we can do anything,” Nelson said. “Certainly Jonathan has the ability to collect signatures and pursue [bylaw revisions] on his own [through a citizen’s petition] if he wanted to and if the Planning Board does not want to take it up.”

Reach Bella Levavi at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.