By ADAM SWIFT
PEABODY — For the second time in two years, the City Council nixed plans for a Verizon Communications Inc. cell tower.
On Thursday night, the council voted 8-1 to deny a special permit for a cell tower at 38 Coolidge Ave.
In 2014, the council denied a special permit for one at Michael’s Limousine on Lynn Street. Verizon is appealing that decision in state land court.
After denial of the Lynn Street tower, Verizon worked with the city on the Coolidge Avenue site. Verizon attorney Chris Swiniarski said a tower is needed to fix coverage gaps in South Peabody.
But at a public hearing in May, several residents who live near Coolidge Avenue said a 130-foot tower would be too obtrusive for the neighborhood. At that time, councilors and Swiniarski discussed the possibility of working with the Peabody Municipal Light Plant (PMLP) on a distributive antenna system. In this way, wireless providers use smaller antennas atop utility poles instead of enormous cell towers.
At Thursday night’s meeting, it initially looked like the city and Verizon were taking a step in the direction of a utility pole-based antenna system.
City Solicitor Michael Smercynski said the PMLP had agreed to put out a request for proposals for a distributive antenna system that could be shared by all cell providers.
“This news means we now have an alternative to provide this wireless carrier and others down the road to address significant gaps in coverage without building towers,” he said.
But Swiniarski said the alternative was no alternative at all.
“As I understand it, the PMLP voted to reject our proposal for pole top antennas, and someday, at some point there will be a build out that we could someday use,” he said. “That’s not sufficient for the gap coverage. You can call it what you want to call it, but it’s not a solution and not going to solve the problem we have tonight.”
Councilor at Large Thomas Gould said he believed the city was taking steps to address Verizon’s needs.
“I’m willing to take the risk and reject the cell tower here on Coolidge Avenue,” said Gould.
Ward 1 Councilor Jon Turco said the city has done extraordinary work over the past two months to address Verizon’s concerns.
“PMLP has bent over backwards in the last eight weeks to get this resolved,” he said. “At this point, no matter what we do, I think it won’t be good enough for Verizon.”
Councilor at Large Anne Manning-Martin cast the lone vote against denying the special permit, raising the specter of a second Verizon lawsuit against the city.
“My fear is that we are going to have not zero, not one, but two cell towers,” said Manning-Martin. “I’m afraid that the council will come off as not being cooperative.”
She said it could look like the city was taking a “not in my backyard” approach toward Verizon by not meeting federal regulations which require that gaps in telecommunications coverage be addressed.
Adam Swift can be reached at [email protected].
