Manchester Planning Board Approves Verizon 5G Tower Upgrade at Ashland Avenue

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, June 8, 2026, Manchester Planning Board approves Verizon 5G upgrade at Ashland Avenue cell tower while opening review of first MBTA-zone duplex project. The board voted unanimously June 8 to grant Selco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, a special permit to remove three antennas and install six new ones, add three diplexers, and expand the upper section of the 17 Ashland Avenue monopole by six inches to boost 5G coverage, conditioned on Verizon confirming that an existing $25,000 tower-removal surety bond held by the town treasurer remains in force. The board acted under a 60-day federal deadline set to expire June 22. In a separate public hearing, the board took up a site plan for two duplexes at 1 Deer Hill Road, the town's first application under its new 3A MBTA multifamily zoning, after developer Tom Ford redesigned an earlier four-unit standalone plan into two connected buildings to resolve an ambiguity in the bylaw; the hearing was continued to July 13 pending review by the newly formed Design Review Committee and submission of a landscape plan and materials list.