CONWAY — At June 3’s Annual Town Meeting, residents will be asked to consider several Planning Board amendments to Conway’s wireless telecommunications facility bylaws, alongside a singular addition to the town’s marijuana bylaws.

In an effort to modernize its cell tower bylaws, which were approved in 2000 and last amended in 2005, the board has added definitions for new technology, such as small cell wireless communication facilities, and addressed aesthetic concerns in proposed amendments. In its marijuana bylaws, the board has proposed an exception to its change of ownership requirements for craft marijuana cultivation cooperatives, which typically have multiple owners.

“Planning Board members realized our existing bylaws … were out of date and did not adequately address current conditions and current technologies, and could be revised to better address many things,” Chair Beth Girshman said at a March public hearing, adding that small cell facilities are “something that did not exist the last time this bylaw was revised.”

For regular wireless communication facilities, the Planning Board added more protections for the town’s aesthetics and natural resources by requesting developers address “issues such as color, camouflage and screening of the [facility], protection of ridge lines, preservation of on-site vegetation, and illumination — all to minimize visual impact.”

“We were trying to beef up the regulation with respect to visual impacts,” Planning Board member George Forcier said at the hearing.

Other proposed changes for typical facilities include: requiring free-standing towers to be sited away from structures, private or public ways, or property lines from a distance at least equal to the tower’s height; protecting native plant and animal species in the vicinity of the site; and requiring a barrier around the facility for safety and security purposes.

The proposed amendments would also require developers to ensure their plans meet the Federal Communications Commission’s radio frequency radiation guidelines, and any equipment mounted to an existing structure cannot extend more than 12 feet above that structure or building’s height.

Small cell facilities typically take the form of small antennas on existing infrastructure that are used to complement cell tower coverage. Since these are recent developments — compared to the 2005 amendments — this section of the bylaw is completely new.

If approved, this section of the bylaw would require special permit approval from the Planning Board and would require applicants to prevent interference of streets, sidewalks and other public ways; protect against environmental damage; and minimize adverse visual and auditory impacts on abutters.

Marijuana regulations

For its marijuana bylaws, the Planning Board has proposed adding an exception for its change of ownership requirements for craft marijuana cultivation cooperatives, which would alleviate special permit issues for these types of businesses.

Currently, Conway’s bylaws state a special permit “shall lapse upon any transfer of ownership or legal interest of more than 10%” and any cooperative cultivator, such as Roaring Glen Farms, would have to return to the board for a special permit anytime ownership changed, which Forcier said can happen “frequently” in this type of business.

The amendment would require any cooperative to share a list of the names and the number of owners with the Selectboard and Planning Board by Dec. 31 each year.

Roaring Glen Farms, an existing cooperative approved to operate in Conway, appeared before the Planning Board several times with concerns about their special permit lapsing under the current bylaw’s rules. In January 2022, the board granted Roaring Glen Farms a waiver.

“It occurred to us that if there are other pot farms in the future, this issue may come up again, so it made sense to modify the bylaw,” Forcier said by phone. “It’s a codification of what we did for Roaring Glen and would apply to some future cooperative.”

The cellular facility and marijuana bylaw amendments will come before residents at Town Meeting, which is set for Saturday, June 3, at 10 a.m. at Conway Grammar School.

Chris Larabee can be reached
at clarabee@recorder.com or
413-930-4081.

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