Umbrella coverage? New antenna would ‘saturate’ Acton Center

A cell service “jigsaw puzzle” is coming together around Acton Center as a transmitter at the town-owned Umbrella Arts Center inches toward approval.

New maps show where Verizon customers’ coverage would — and wouldn’t — improve.

The Umbrella antenna should “saturate the downtown area,” town consultant Ivan Pagacik told the Select Board this month.

Its signal would reach inside buildings and be at least as good as a temporary transmitter installed for last year’s Concord250 celebrations.

“That gives you a sense of what you’re going to get for coverage,” Pagacik said. 

The Umbrella site wouldn’t do as much for Acton-Carlisle High School, but that campus should benefit from a planned tower at the former town landfill on Walden Street, said Pagacik, who offered the puzzle metaphor. 

Ahead of a July 6 meeting, Verizon prepared maps showing LTE coverage blooming around Monument Square, Thoreau Depot, and Emerson Field. Some North Bridge visitors could be left wanting, but coverage would still improve in Minute Man National Historical Park. The benefits would tail off around Elm Street, with coverage staying largely unchanged in that area.

The Select Board unanimously supported the plan. Verizon needs approval from other town panels to proceed and will undergo state and federal regulatory reviews. Verizon could start construction next summer, provided it gets the necessary permits. 

Although the Umbrella transmitter would help only Verizon customers, AT&T users are getting a boost from low-power systems approved on Sudbury Road. The landfill tower is moving through a review process and could host several carriers.

LEFT: Verizon cell signal data shows the current state of 700 MHz LTE coverage around Acton Center. RIGHT: Verizon projections estimate how coverage would expand with a new transmitter at The Umbrella Arts Center. Maps via Verizon

Concerns persist

While many clamor for better connections, some Concordians have opposed cell initiatives. A rezoning plan meant to ease restrictions failed at Town Meeting this spring.

Gail Hire, who led the charge against the town’s rezoning pitch, raised concerns about noise from generators or other equipment at the Umbrella installation. “It seems like the process has gone forward kind of behind closed doors,” she told the Select Board.

Resident Don Kupka asked how officials know that cell radiation from the Umbrella project “will not be an issue” for people living in the Emerson Annex — the Umbrella’s tallest abutting residential building. 

Kupka, an Umbrella abutter, chairs the Finance Committee but emphasized that he was speaking on his own behalf. 

“Small-cell” projects like the Sudbury Road AT&T initiative have piqued interest as a possible tool to fight Acton’s notorious dead zones. 

Those efforts are “part of our strategy,” Deputy Town Manager Megan Zammuto said, but carriers often look to put low-powered transmitters on utility poles, and Acton’s practice of “undergrounding” lines means there are fewer poles available. 

Low-power tech also works best as a supplemental system where there’s already a signal, she said. They’re “not as helpful in areas where there are significant gaps,” she told the Select Board.

Kupka, whom Select Board member Paul Boehm proclaimed a “small-cell guru” in a conversation with The Acton Bridge this spring, insisted low-power transmitters can work on their own.

As the Umbrella project heads toward the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board, Select Board Chair Wendy Rovelli reiterated that it’s “our goal this year to move wireless coverage” forward. 

“We know that’s been contentious and we just want to go on record as a Select Board saying, ‘We want to continue to pursue this avenue and this solution,’” she told The Bridge.