WFSB Doppler Radar Plan for Avon Mountain Rejected

WFSB-TV's proposal to put a Doppler weather radar system on Avon Mountain was rejected this week by the planning and zoning commission.

 

The 6-1 vote came after hours of debate at three meetings this month.

 

Commission members said the radar system would be out of character with the residential neighborhood on Avon Mountain, and cited the potential for health impacts and also the proposed commercial use of the property.

 

The radar would be a non-conforming use under the zoning designation for the surrounding area and could be allowed only in certain circumstances, which commission members said had not been met.

 

The radar also would emit radiation, raising concern among residents and commission members over the potential for affecting the health of people in the area.

 

"I would not want to live up there with a family," commission member Marianne Clark said.

 

WFSB wanted to put the Doppler radar on land it owns at 375 Deercliff Road, replacing an existing facility at Bradley International Airport. The building that contains the radar system at Bradley will be torn down.

 

WFSB officials have said Avon Mountain, where the station had its Doppler system until some time in the 1970s, is an ideal location for the radar.

 

But residents of Deercliff Road and streets off it have strongly opposed WFSB's plans. They hired their own consultant to review the application, and the commission's meetings at which the proposal was discussed were packed.

 

The radiation emitted by the radar is regulated by the federal government because of its potential impact on health, and that had residents worried. In comments to the commission this spring, residents said they worried that the radar would make them sick.

 

Other concerns raised by residents included noise generated by the system and the location of a commercial weather radar in a residential area. Studies done by real estate appraisers, and presented to the commission by residents, argued that the value of homes in the area would suffer if the radar were put there.

 

At meetings this spring, station officials insisted that radiation from the radar pose no threat to residents and that any exposure to radiation would be well below the federal permitted level. They said that he beam is not pointed at houses and that the radiation from the device dissipates quickly.

 

A consultant for the town who has assessed WFSB's plans has concurred that there is no risk.

 

But the residents' consultant argued that the standards for exposure from the radiation may not be stringent enough to protect people and urged the commission not to allow the radar.

 

Noise also would not be an issue, station officials have said.

 

From: The Hartford Courant