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EASTON, Conn. If you were driving down Eastons Center Road on Wednesday, you might have caught a glimpse of a giant balloon flying over Ganim Farm. No, it wasnt someones birthday. It was an unofficial balloon fly by a wireless antenna developer looking to construct a cell tower on the farm property.
The Ganim family signed a lease in November with Message Center Management to erect a 160-foot-tall antenna on a parcel of land on Center Road, near Adams Road. According to Maria Scotti, director of MCM, the balloon fly is one of the first steps her company must take to submit an application to the Connecticut Siting Council for review and approval.
This is an unofficial balloon fly; the official balloon fly would come from the Siting Council. This is just something we put together as part of our due diligence, Scotti said. The balloon fly will be used to create a photo simulation of what the tower would look like on the property, she said. We want this simulation to look as close as humanly possible to an actual tower.
The balloon was put up at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and stayed up until 3 p.m. While the balloon was up, MCM crews drove around the area to take pictures from various vantage points around town. These pictures will be used in a report sent to the Siting Council for review as well.
The red and yellow balloon could be spotted from various spots on Adams and Center roads but could not be seen from Town Hall or Sport Hill Road.
If you missed it, it will be back. A lot of people think that this is the official thing that the Siting Council is doing. Dont worry, it will be up again, Scotti said.
She expected the application to go before the Siting Council in about four months. MCM still needs to conduct further tests on the site, and a 60-day public comment period is set before the town Planning and Zoning Commission.
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