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Date: 12/3/2021
LUDLOW – After years of work, the Ludlow Planning Board approved a site plan for a new communications tower that would improve communications between town departments during its Nov. 18 meeting.
The proposed 180-foot monopole would be located at 0 Center St., abutting the parking lot connected to one of the town’s athletic fields, just behind the Citizen’s Bank.
Ludlow Fire Chief Ryan Pease said the tower would be used for town communication only.
“This is a radio communications project for our town-wide communication system involving police, fire, DPW, schools, the senior center and the Board of Health will all operate on this. This is not a tower we are going to sell space on, it is dedicated to town-wide emergency radio communications,” he said.
He added the tower would not disrupt the fields or parking.
“We are not putting it in the middle of the football field, it will not disrupt anything already existing there, it is going to sit to the side of the parking lot there, we are maybe taking one or two parking spaces,” he said. “It is a monopole, so it is not a huge structure that is going to be God- awful to look at.”
The project’s representative from Marcus Communications said the plan was to break ground on the project in December or January and finish construction by May, pending construction and supply times staying on track.
Police Chief Daniel Valadas said the tower would specifically help police and fire communications between the departments.
“This is a long-standing project that goes back about seven years ago. It is to remedy a lack of proficient communication ability with all the departments the fire chief mentioned, but most importantly your police and fire that are out there every day,” he said.
The new tower would provide a solution to the issue for years to come.
“We have had some hairy situations when communication has been very poor, and people needed assistance immediately. This was to the remedy to it and Town Meeting voted for it so this is hopefully the culmination of a long project and will serve the town of Ludlow for many years,” Valadas said.
Planning Board Chair Christopher Coelho said he was in favor of the project.
“I know it has been needed for quite a while, so I am glad it is being put together,” he said.
While board member Raymond Phoenix was in favor of the other waivers for the project, he said he was against approving the waiver on creating additional parking spaces because of the fact it was not necessary with the existing parking lot for the field. The board unanimously agreed and voted in favor of approving the site plan along with the four other waivers, but denied the parking space waiver.
The Ludlow Planning Board next meets on Dec. 9.