Residents Want New Site For Proposed Cell Phone Tower

MANSFIELD, MA — First it was a solar farm, now residents near the Branch Street property have a cell phone tower potentially on the way.

James Farley of nearby Lincoln Road spoke at Wednesday night’s selectmen meeting against the proposal. He told the board that Eco-Site, a company that constructs cell towers, will appear in front of the zoning board of appeals next week to obtain a variance which would allow them to build the tower closer to his property. By statue, the tower must be at least 500 feet away, but the variance would allow it to be about 450 feet away from Farley’s property.

While East Mansfield has its fair share of problems related to cell phone signal strength, Farley and other neighbors in attendance said the tower should go to a location where there is less residential impact such as the Mansfield Green or the under construction public safety building.

Board members said they just learned about the proposal and had few kind things to say.

“These people have been burdened with a solar farm and now they get a cell tower? That’s not fair. They buy nice houses and they’re going to be burdened with this. I think we need to do our due diligence and find a new place,” Selectman Jess Aptowitz said.

Paul DeRensis, town counsel, warned the board to not get directrly involved in an issue in front of other boards and said there there is a federal law which allows cell towers to be built in areas where there is poor coverage.

“It’s hard to deny them because Congress decided this was the policy of the US, to have coverage nationwide,” DeRensis said.

Julie Camp of Lincoln Road said the company constructing the tower needs to prove they have exhausted all alternative sites, but she says they have a list of other places the tower could go.

The variance request goes in front of the ZBA March 6 and the planning board will hold a special permit hearing later in the month.

Image: File Photo