HADLEY — Verizon Wireless will improve its coverage area for 4G and 5G service along the Route 9 corridor by installing new antennas on the roof of a Hadley hotel.

The Planning Board last week voted unanimously to issue a special permit to the company to place antennas and support equipment at the Homewood Suites at 340-350 Russell St.

Jay Latorre, principal radio frequency engineer for Verizon, said a growth in demand has placed a strain on the surrounding wireless facilities. That has also created a challenge in trying to cover all the traffic on the state highway between the Amherst town line and the Coolidge Bridge.

“This facility is really going to improve that experience,” Latorre said.

Kip Divito, a Verizon engineer, added that the new antennas will fill service gaps and provide more reliable coverage.

The antennas will include both ground and roof equipment toward the back side of the hotel, said Jesse Moreno of ProTerra Design Goup, LLC in Hadley. Plans are to conceal the antennas with a screen wall, with equipment inside that wall on top of the hotel’s stairwells.

“We’d be looking to match the color and the architectural features of the building so we can hide it better,” Moreno said, showing that, at their highest point, the antennas would rise to 49 feet above the parking lot.

Board member Mark Dunn appreciated that the antennas will blend in to the building.

“They have shown concern and care for aesthetics by placing it at the northeast and northwest corners of the building, and doing it pleasingly,” Dunn said.

Board Clerk William Dwyer noted that the town’s planning bylaws encourage varied roof lines to break up the appearance of buildings, and the use of the screen wall meets that objective.

Whether there are any potential health risks associated with cellular antennas was an issue brought up by board member Michael Sarsynski, who observed that the extended stay hotel means people are there for days and weeks at a time.

Divito said that a third party analysis done on the antennas’ radio frequency determined they are well below the Federal Communications Commission allowed emissions limits. Divito said that similar antennas are also on many types of buildings, including medical facilities. “We do have installations on rooftops and hospitals all over the country,” Divito said.

Board Chairman James Maksimoski said he has heard concern from public safety officials that their communication equipment signals deteriorate on Route 9 closer to the Amherst town line and the shopping malls. He asked if the presence of so many wireless antennas might be a cause.

Latorre said he is not aware of any interference from the antennas with town of Hadley or other towns’ emergency departments, though has heard the comment in the past. If a problem can be blamed on Verizon, the company would have an obligation to identify the interference and correct it, he said.

“More often than not it’s not us, because our radios are really designed to transmit in only certain waves,” Latorre said.

New softball field

In other business, the board advised the town’s Park and Recreation Department to file plans showing drainage and parking associated with a new softball field to be constructed south of the North Hadley Fire Substation on River Drive.

The Select Board in December 2021 gave unanimous approval for the project on the 9-acre site, and since that time Park and Recreation member Jim Shea said Rep. Dan Carey has secured $100,000 to build the field and parking. The site would be for 12 and under softball players who need their own place to play, rather than the Cal Ripken fields near the public safety complex or the renovated Hopkins Academy fields.

Board member Joseph Zgrodnik said there may need to be conversations with the Select Board before Park and Recreation usurps the land that could be for a new Department of Public Works yard. Maksimoski confirmed that as a member of the DPW Feasibility Committee that is among the sites being examined.

“I would not be in favor of approving it for a softball field until the committee decides that we don’t want that as a DPW yard, and that has not been decided yet,” Maksimoski said.

But Shea said that decision has already been made and that the state’s financial commitment would go away if the Select Board rescinds its earlier vote.

Meanwhile, planners also approved new signs for The Massage School at 231 Russell St. and the AT&T store at 355 Russell St.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.]]>