COHASSET - June 16, 2026 - In a dramatic shift of municipal focus, the Cohasset Select Board voted 5-0 to direct the Town Manager to aggressively investigate alternative locations on town-owned land for a critical public safety cell tower. This decisive pivot follows weeks of public outcry and an overwhelming 199–30 non-binding vote at the May Town Meeting that explicitly rejected placing a 17-story cellular tower inside Wheelwright Park, a piece of land deeded to the town in 1917 for public recreation.
The Full Story
The meeting opened with a highly charged public comment period as citizens and local committee heads crowded the Willcutt Commons to defend the town’s natural landscape. Under the terms of a 2022 Special Town Meeting vote, the Select Board had previously signed a lease with telecommunications vendors to build a cell tower inside Wheelwright Park to resolve hazardous communication dead zones in the north side of town.
However, residents argued that the technology was invasive. Resident Barbara Wrenn suggested replacing the planned 17-story tower with modern “small cell antennas” along telephone poles. This proposal was later deemed cost-prohibitive by then-Assistant Town Manager Michelle Leary, who stated that vendors estimated it would require 60 distinct nodes costing $2.5 million per carrier to capture the same geographical radius.
The legal complexities deepened as Select Board Chair David Farrag highlighted details from a freshly released Town Counsel opinion dated June 1, 2026. Farrag emphasized that the original 2022 Town Meeting explicitly authorized the Select Board to lease the Wheelwright Park land, creating vested legal rights for the carriers. He warned that breaking the contract outright could prompt a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the town, potentially tripling the damages under Chapter 93A. Farrag also criticized the Open Space and Recreation Committee for a Facebook post that accused the Select Board of “hoping Cohasset citizens forgot” the May vote, calling the message “outrageous” and “unbecoming.”
