CRANBERRY TWP — A lawyer who frequently represents wireless communications providers and a concerned resident both spoke during a public hearing for a revised zoning ordinance regarding where communications towers can be placed.

The township board of supervisors held a public hearing April 27 to receive public comment on the potential revision.

The township is looking to revise the ordinance to further restrict the areas where communications towers would be permitted. The revision is to protect residents from having the large towers in their backyards.

The revised zoning ordinance would require wireless communication towers to be no closer than 100 feet from a residential area, and it removes churches and schools from an exemption from the restriction.

Joe Perotti, an attorney with Sittig, Cortese and Wratcher in Pittsburgh, said he had two representatives from Verizon with him at the meeting that night. He said many households have eliminated landlines in favor of wireless lines, and wireless data usage is expected to increase significantly in the future.

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