Corrected and updated December 20, 2020
The Select Board has voted to issue an RFP (request for proposals) for the construction of a cell tower at the Bolton Road water tank. The vote occurred at the board’s Dec. 15 meeting, where Verizon attorney Chris Swiniarski and Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Chris Tracey both answered questions about the issue. The Select Board’s approval of the Bolton Road location leaves the future of an alternative proposed tower at 12 Woodchuck Hill Road uncertain.
A Nov. 17 report by Harvard’s engineering consultant David Maxson concluded that the Bolton Road site would slightly improve coverage in south Harvard. Select Board members expressed interest in the south Harvard coverage. They pointed out that in addition to being a continual inconvenience to residents, the current poor coverage is also a public safety issue, as residents can lose all ability to contact emergency services whenever landline phone lines are damaged.
Jim Saalfield, abutter to the Woodchuck Hill Road location, claimed that Harvard would likely be able to charge $50,000 annually to lease the tower location. Swiniarski said the actual number would likely be significantly less than that, pointing to a similar deal that Concord recently made. Select Board member Kara Minar revealed that Concord’s contract earns that town $44,000 per year.
Woodchuck Hill abutter Greg Romero questioned why the Select Board had not already discussed the Bolton Road location, since the ZBA has been discussing the Woodchuck Hill location for months. According to Town Administrator Tim Bragan, the Bolton Road site was originally approved for a cell tower at a town meeting in 2006, enabling the Select Board to issue an RFP there at any time. In 2013, the board began work on an RFP for that location, but it gave up on the project after receiving strongly negative public feedback. Select Board Chair Alice von Loesecke said the board has been very busy for the last few months, and so only now has found time to revisit the issue.
All four Select Board members present voted in favor of issuing the RFP. Select Board member Rich Maiore recused himself from the discussion and vote because his father, Rick Maiore, owns the Woodchuck Hill site.
Cell companies may now bid on the right to construct a tower at the Bolton Road site. The Select Board requested that proposals include an analysis of the coverage to be provided, and members expressed a willingness to alter the height or location of the proposed tower if doing so would improve coverage to south Harvard. According to Tracey, Harvard’s cell tower bylaw is so restrictive that any proposed tower will probably require some ZBA variance to be economically viable.
Impact on Woodchuck Hill tower
The Bolton Road tower location has been a consideration in the ongoing debate over Verizon’s request to build a cell tower at 12 Woodchuck Hill Road. According to Maxson, the proposed Woodchuck Hill Road tower would need to be at least 120 feet tall to reach over the tops of nearby trees, which is taller than the 105-foot maximum height specified in Harvard’s cell tower bylaw. It would require the ZBA to issue a variance, but abutting property owners have urged the ZBA to deny it.
According to Swiniarski, federal law requires the ZBA to approve Verizon’s request unless there is another site available for the tower that would provide coverage of the same areas. Abutters have proposed several alternative sites for the tower, but the Bolton Road site is the only one where the property owner (the town of Harvard) has not rejected Verizon’s proposals.
Maxson’s Nov. 17 report concluded that the Bolton Road site offers similar coverage to that of the Woodchuck Hill site, but not identical. It offers inferior coverage of the center of town and slightly more coverage in southern Harvard. It also fails to provide coverage of several roads feeding into the town center (Mass. Ave., Old Boston Turnpike, and Old Littleton Road), whereas the Woodchuck Hill site provides some coverage of these areas.
Swiniarski remains committed to the Woodchuck Hill site, claiming that this difference in coverage prevents the Bolton Road site from being considered a viable alternative and that the ZBA is still legally required to grant a variance. He also said it would be “neither just nor fair” for Harvard to have spent seven years turning down Verizon’s requests to put a tower at the Bolton Road site, only to then require that Verizon use that site after it invested time and money preparing an alternate site. Tracey said the ZBA will need to see more analysis of the differences in coverage before making a decision. The ZBA met again Dec.16, and the deadline to make a decision was Dec. 17. Verizon has already reluctantly extended the deadline beyond the original 100 days required by state law, and may not be willing to extend it again.
—Note: The originally published version of this article incorrectly stated that the Bolton Road site provided better coverage of the town center relative to the Woodchuck Hill site. The article has been edited to correct this error.
