Verizon's Cell Tower Returns to Belmont

A representative and engineers for Verizon Wireless came for a visit with the Belmont Board of Selectmen Monday, June 21 to discuss a little matter of where to place their cell phone tower.

Their 100-foot cell phone tower.

The company will make a formal presentation before the Zoning Board of Appeals on July 12 where the board will deliberate whether and where to place the tower.

The Verizon team arrived with maps and explanations why it was not only imperative for the company to install the tower – cell phone coverage is notoriously spotty at the best of times in Arlington and Belmont – but also why in the entire coverage area there is only one suitable location to build it.

And that spot is a small plot of land on Route 2 near the Pleasant Street exit. Owned by the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management, the median strip at the Exit 52 is an ideal location to place the telecommunications tower that will service several communication firms wireless operations including T-Mobile and ATT, according to Verizon's spokesman.

"There is definitely a need for it," said Daniel Klasnick, an attorney and partner with the Woburn-based law firm of Duval, Klasnick & Pastel who was serving as Verizon's representative.

But for neighbors in both Belmont and Arlington, the tower remains a bothersome white elephant that will look ugly and cause property values to plummet if the equipment was installed.

Selectman Angelo Firenze bluntly proclaimed that residents would rather suffer with dropped calls than to live with a 100-foot tower "that will look terrible and most neighbors hate."

Verizon had been viewing this parcel of land for a communications tower since leasing it from the state in 2006.

But both towns have fought the location of the tower, with Belmont's Selectmen, Historic District Commission and residents leading the charge.

They were successful in delaying the company from placing the tower in the ground for year, arguing that the tower was an eyesore that nearly everyone could see in historic districts to Belmont and Arlington.

And it appeared that those delaying tactics actually worked in the municipalities favor. In early March, a letter from the secretary of administration and finance ended Verizon's lease on the property because the company took too long in obtaining town permits needed for the projected tower plan to proceed.

Yet since the tower meets existing Belmont town zoning and historic commission bylaws, and with state law preventing local municipalities from halting the construction of this type of technology, the town is seen as limited to demanding the quality of landscaping to hide the tower's storage area.

And while the lease has been terminated, it is likely the state could return to negotiations with Verizon once it meets a new requirement of increasing the number of residents in both towns who will be able to comment on the project.

Verizon's meeting with the Selectmen was only informational: the ZBA has jurisdiction over the matter.

The Verizon engineers who attended Monday's meeting explained to the board that the median strip parcel was ideally situated to allow the greatest coverage for both towns.

The problem in moving the site to a less dense area in the western edges of Arlington and Belmont is that the elevation drops significantly and impedes with the signal.

And the hope of using the old MDC skating rink site in Belmont was KO'd by deed restrictions on the site, said  Chuck Webberly, Verizon's site acquisition engineer.

The team also looked at municipal-owned land for the tower but that would have necessitate locating in residentially-dense neighborhoods.

The "highway site" had the best zoning restrictions since there was no need to obtain special permits, said Webberly.

They have explored putting the tower in the immediate proximity on smaller lots or on rooftops of commercial property "just to stretch" the number of alternative locations.

"But this is a unique site," said Webberly.

The next step for Verizon is to meet with Arlington's Board of Selectmen and then a formal meeting with Belmont's ZBA on July 12, which will be closed to public comment.