135-Foot Cell Tower Planned for Mechanic Place

A public notice on Friday may be the first that many people in the northern part of town would have heard regarding a 135-foot self-supporting lattice telecommunications tower facility in the vicinity of Mechanic Place, off of Bent Street, in the northern part of Franklin.

According to the notice, Cellco Partnership and its controlled affiliates, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is proposing the project.

According to Verizon spokesperson Christopher Barry Serico, Verizon constantly invests in its network to offer customers “the quality experience and reliability they expect and deserve.” He noted that as more people are doing more things, in more places with more internet connected devices, Verizon has seen a dramatic increase in voice and data traffic on its network. “We only expect that trend to increase,” he said.

“To support that growing demand, we invest in small-cell technology to develop and engineer the best possible network given each local community’s needs, including those of our public-safety and consumer/business wireless customers,” Serico explained. He said the cell site in Franklin, “will improve Verizon’s network in the area — particularly important now and into the future, as many residents will continue to depend on reliable broadband service to work and learn from home.”

Public comments regarding potential effects from this site on historic properties may be submitted within 30 days from the date of publication of the notice (July 16) to: Project 6121002927- KR c/o EBI Consulting, 21 B Street, Burlington, MA 01803, kritter@ebiconsulting.com, or via telephone at (413) 281-4650.