By Dakota Antelman — [email protected]
The latest effort to improve cell coverage in Concord will be delayed by roughly eight weeks after the town pushed a deadline for proposals until mid-January.
The process centers on the former landfill at 755 Walden Street and asks vendors to submit plans for a cell tower and related equipment.
The town issued a request for proposals in October with an original due date of November 25. In an addendum, officials punted the deadline to January 17.
Assistant town manager Megan Zammuto said the delay came after vendors asked questions and made requests for additional time.
“To support a fair and competitive process, we have extended the deadlines for both submitting questions and for the proposal submissions themselves,” Zammuto said in a statement to The Concord Bridge.
She said the extension will allow staff to respond to all inquiries “and give proposers adequate time to incorporate that information into their submissions.”
“Our goal is to ensure that all potential respondents have the opportunity to put forward strong, well-informed proposals that meet the Town’s needs and expectations,” Zammuto said.
Site visit
The town currently uses 755 Walden Street for equipment storage and yard waste recycling, among other things.
In addition to its history as a landfill, the area once hosted an 80-foot cell tower, according to the October request.
Officials hosted a site visit for vendors on November 1. Town Manager Kerry Lafleur told the Select Board on November 4 that “several vendors” attended.
Concord’s spotty cellular coverage has long prompted frustration. Talk of adding cell towers has also sparked debate.
At Concord-Carlisle High School, an overwhelming majority of respondents backed the construction of a cell tower on campus in a survey last fall. Most of the survey respondents were self-identified parents.
Safety, health concerns
In addition to the inconvenience, town leaders have highlighted the current lack of consistent cell service at CCHS and elsewhere as a safety concern.
Opponents have raised health concerns, including worries about potential radiation exposure.
The American Cancer Society says, “There’s no strong evidence that exposure to [radiofrequency] waves from cell phone towers causes any noticeable health effects.” However, “this does not mean that the RF waves from cell phone towers have been proven to be absolutely safe,” the society says.
The cancer society, the CDC, and the Federal Communications Commission all say the topic needs more research.
Before the landfill request, the town sought proposals for a new antenna atop The Umbrella Arts Center. Officials rejected the lone bid they received as “noncompliant and nonresponsive.”
In a statement in late October, Zammuto said officials planned to issue a new request for proposals at The Umbrella.
Roughly one month later, Zammuto said officials still planned to revisit the request. “[B]ut our focus in recent weeks has been preparing answers to questions about the landfill RFP,” she said.
Location, location, location
Former Select Board chair Henry Dane has long supported placing a Verizon antenna at the Trinitarian Congregational Church on Walden Street, saying a landfill tower wouldn’t improve service in Concord Center.
Reached on December 4, church administrator Judy Walpole confirmed TriCon was negotiating until conversations stalled in October.
A Verizon spokesperson said he was “looking into this” in response to an initial Bridge inquiry but did not comment further.
With no movement on a TriCon antenna, and with the landfill RFP at the front of the line, Zammuto told the Select Board on December 2 that she still holds regular meetings with Umbrella staff.
Zammuto said “we are learning a lot” from the landfill cell tower process. “[We] hope to apply some of the things that we’ve learned to a new effort to improve cell service in downtown,” she said.
