Verizon can’t seem to make anyone happy in Clarksburg, MA. A second location for the placement of the carrier’s 140-foot monopole has received significant backlash from members of the community who decried the structure as an eyesore and unnecessary. Not helping matters is an ongoing lawsuit over a dual tower collapse that occurred in 2014, due to overload and strong winds. No climbers were injured in the incident.
Last week, the Clarksburg Planning Board held a public hearing, which gave concerned citizens the opportunity to sound off. The tower’s first location was rejected due to its violation of the town’s telecommunications bylaw, as it was too close to a nearby property line, but residents claim the new location is still in violation of the bylaw.
Residents said the new location violates the bylaw due to its height being over 20 feet above the tree line and its location under five miles of another tower. A radio frequency engineer for Verizon defended the proposed location at the recent hearing.
“The addition of data has increased the need for capacity,” Jay Latorre said. “We use our phones to send photos to family members, we use our phones to look up recipes for dinner, we use our phones to send an update on Twitter or Facebook and so as technology has improved and as we’ve evolved the smartphone, the demand placed upon the network has increased significantly.”
Verizon has been trying to build a tower in the area for three years now; in 2014, the aforementioned towers collapsed prompted a lawsuit from North Adams Tower Co. The builder, North Adams, accused the carrier, Verizon, of adding equipment that caused the collapse of one of the towers which tumbled into the other.
January 9, 2017
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