Rideout Park cell push on hold

Officials are pumping the brakes on a proposed Rideout Park cell antenna after neighbors rallied against the project. 

Deputy Town Manager Megan Zammuto recently told the Select Board that she was “on track” to issue a request for proposals for a flagpole-style tower. Opponents questioned whether the Rideout area has a coverage problem and objected to a transmitter near a playground.

On Monday, Zammuto changed course and recommended focusing on Acton Center for at least the next few months. 

Efforts to add a cell tower at the former Acton Landfill and install a transmitter at the Umbrella Arts Center are underway. The Select Board has also approved low-powered antennas along Sudbury Road. 

Rideout neighbors have raised concerns about aesthetics, property values, and health. They want officials to consider other sites for a transmitter, including Gerow Park and West Acton’s MBTA parking lot and fire substation.

“Rideout Park is a small but cherished community space,” Conant Street resident Ruth Brien wrote in a letter to the town that she shared with The Bridge. Anything that would shrink the park’s recreation space or “diminish its value,” she said, “should be avoided.”

Jean and Alexander Easterday of Maple Street wrote in a separate letter that neighbors want reliable infrastructure, but new projects require “careful analysis, and the same robust public engagement” that preceded those in Acton Center.

Whether or not Rideout itself is a dead zone, Select Board Clerk Wendy Rovelli said she knows “there are problems” with West Acton coverage.

Zammuto hopes progress elsewhere could make a West Acton project easier as the town boosts its reputation with cell companies and shows it’s willing to allow a tower. 

She has been focused on town properties, but said Verizon, which has the biggest gaps in West Acton, could find a private tower host.

Town Meeting will consider an overhaul of zoning rules this spring that could open the door to transmitters throughout Acton. Despite some opposition, Zammuto still says she feels “the tide is turning.” 

“People are frustrated and want solutions,” she told The Bridge.