AT&T Proposes New Antennas for Aldersgate Methodist Church

A wireless company’s proposal to add new antennas and install an equipment shelter at was continued due to concerns about the design clashing with the building’s architecture.

There are currently six antennas, three from Sprint and three from T-Mobile, on the Aldersgate Methodist Church on 1 Wellbrock Heights. AT&T is proposing nine new antennas, installing a 450 square foot unmanned equipment shelter and replacing one of the church’s stain glass windows with fiberglass.

Six of the antennas would be mounted behind a fiberglass wall below the roof eave. The last three would located on the roof, in the new fiberglass window replacing the stain glass.

“Instead of looking built in, it looks like saddle bags under the eave,” Design Review Board member Bob Huntsberry said at a recent meeting. “And it’s kind of sad that the church is willing to give up half of their stain glass in the name of money.”

The project also proposes adding a fence near the new equipment shelter and relocating a tree to another part of the site.

“It would probably be multiple thousands of dollars to relocate that,” board member Jeff Kent said.

Homeowners near 1 Wellbrock Heights are worried that the addition new antennas will bring their property values down. Harry Wright’s back yard overlooks where the new fence will be if the project is approved.

“The neighbors feel like we’ve been hit hard enough with the economy on the value of our houses,” he said. “And to have this thing sticking up in the air like that is going to be a real problem with the valuation of our homes.”

The Design Review Board unanimously voted to continue the project to a later date in order for AT&T to respond to the issues.

“I feel like it’s on the right track, but it still has a ways to go,” Kent said.

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