No T-Mobile town at Dollar Bill's

By CHELSEY POLLOCK
Union Leader Correspondent
DERRY -- It’s been more than three years since a T-Mobile telecommunications tower was first approved for Dollar Bill’s Discount World, but company representatives have now told the town they will never build at the Rockingham Road site.
T-Mobile representatives recently asked the town to return the $25,000 removal bond and $9,000 cash escrow the company had put up for the Dollar Bill’s tower in 2007, said Derry Planning Assistant Elizabeth Robidoux. The town will then revoke the project’s approval, she said. 
“They have indicated they have no intention of ever building there, so now the appropriate thing to do is to clean everything up,” said Robidoux Monday. 
Construction of the 120-foot monopole was first approved by the town’s Planning Board in April 2007, after securing a variance from the parcel’s General Commercial zone, Robidoux said. At the time, T-Mobile cited gaps in customer coverage through the area. 
But Robidoux said T-Mobile has since co-located on an existing tower on Warner Hill and is set to begin construction on a new tower this spring. 
“With the construction of a tower on Lawrence Road, the Dollar Bill’s tower would have been redundant at this point,” said Robidoux. 
Plans for a 140-foot monopole on a 10-acre parcel at 8 Lawrence Road went before the Planning Board in November. The site currently houses four 300-foot AM radio towers. 
The Lawrence Road tower will be 600 feet from the nearest roadway and 148 feet from the closest property line, according to the plans. 
The project was granted a variance from the existing low-medium density residential zoning in August and was passed through the Derry Conservation Commission in October. 
Robidoux said the proposal has been granted conditional Planning Board approval while some minor site plan revisions are completed. T-Mobile will again have to put forward similar escrow accounts for this plan, she said. 
The new T-Mobile monopole will be Derry’s fifth telecommunications tower. The Planning Board will begin the process of revoking the Dollar Bill’s site plan approval with a public hearing at its meeting on Jan. 19.