Verizon bringing 5G to Medford, new pole locations for antenna okayed wickedlocal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wickedlocal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Neil Zolot / medford@wickedlocal.com
City officials are imposing some conditions on Verizon on installations of 5G telecommunications equipment on utility poles around the city, but will be required to approve the vast majority of the 44 applications, most of which are in Medford Square, South Medford and the Hillside area.
After hours of public testimony on the matter during a video-conference meeting Wednesday, March 31, the Ad Hoc Small Cell Committee decided to hold off on dealing with each application until April 8.
“Federal law is very strong; it prohibits municipalities, when acting as a regulatory authority, from effectively prohibiting wireless telecommunications,” Robin Stein of legal consultant KP Law told the board. “You can’t deny based on health considerations. Federal law is explicit that you can’t consider health and environmental concerns. You can impose a condition so long as that is not going to effectively prohibit their ability to install the facilit