BY ADAM SWIFT
PEABODY — City councilors want more time to consider alternatives to a proposed Verizon Communications Inc. cell tower in South Peabody.
The latest proposal presented by the telephone giant calls for a 130-foot tower at the city’s water treatment plant on Coolidge Avenue.
In 2014, the Peabody City Council denied plans for a tower on Lynn Street. Verizon appealed the decision in Land Court.
Verizon and city officials have examined other options that would satisfy Verizon’s desire to improve coverage gaps in South Peabody. If a solution is found, it could take the Verizon lawsuit against the city off the table.
Residents who live near the site of the latest tower proposal oppose the project. They say it will be too obtrusive in the neighborhood.
“Verizon conducted a balloon test at the end of April that showed just how omnipresent this tower would be at 130 feet,” said John McGinn, a Pumping Station Road resident at Thursday night’s council hearing.
The proposed tower is also in the area where the town has made considerable investments in a golf course, cemetery and a conservation area.
“I don’t want to solve one problem by making another one,” McGinn said.
Verizon attorney Chris Swiniarski said Verizon has worked with the city to find the most suitable place for a tower to address coverage issues in South Peabody, settling on the water treatment plant site.
If there were a more viable location to provide coverage, Swiniarski said Verizon would consider it.
“This is the most expensive way to do this,” he said. “We do not want to do it this way, the city wants us to do it this way.”
Ward 1 Councilor Jon Turco asked Swiniarski if there were alternatives to the Coolidge Avenue site.
Included in the discussion was talk of a distributive antenna system. In this way, wireless providers use smaller antennas atop utility poles, instead of enormous cell towers.
Swiniarski said Verizon has a comparable technology that it has used in some other communities in Massachusetts.
For Verizon to consider such a plan for Peabody, it would need to win approval from the Peabody Municipal Light Plant for use of its utility poles.
At-Large Councilor Anne Manning-Martin said the council should contact the utility company to see if it’s willing to work with Verizon to put use the smaller antenna system.
“If it is a plan that is less obtrusive but feasible, we should try to provide it,” she said.
