HANOVER — Oct. 7, 2026 — The Hanover School Committee called a roll-call vote Wednesday on whether to back Article 5 of the Special Town Meeting warrant, which would place a roughly 100-by-100-foot piece of the Cedar School site under Select Board control for a cell tower lease, over member Libby Corbo request to wait until Oct. 28 for a town counsel opinion.
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The motion asked the committee to support Article 5 as presented and recommend its approval at Special Town Meeting. The committee’s vote does not itself move land or sign a lease. As printed in the packet, the article asks Town Meeting to transfer care, custody, management and control of about 100 by 100 feet at the Cedar School site, 265 Cedar Street, to the Select Board, and to authorize, but not require, that board to lease it for no more than 25 years, including extensions, subject to zoning and permitting. The committee took up the article after a public forum on the project earlier in the evening.
Superintendent Matthew Ferron told members the vote was an endorsement, with any formal land transfer coming after Town Meeting, but acknowledged it would be difficult for the committee to refuse that later step once it had endorsed the article. Ferron said the town’s attorney had advised that this is how the project has to proceed, and was not aware of a written analysis. Setback distances and other site details are unlikely by Oct. 28, he said, because the town has no provider and has not gone out to bid, though a clearer explanation from town counsel is attainable.
Corbo said the town manager had promised more information, including a town counsel opinion and the tower’s setback and location, and noted the committee’s Oct. 28 meeting falls before Special Town Meeting. The member said the site now looks to be about 200 feet from the school and that endorsing the article would give up the committee’s ability to object to the location, the setback or the lease terms.
By endorsing this article, we hand that over to the town, and there’s no way that I can support that. I think it’s completely irresponsible, and I think it abrogates our authority as a school committee.
— Libby Corbo, School Committee (31:53)
Corbo argued that a joint negotiation between the town and the committee could reach the same goal, and said a search of town records turned up no case of Hanover transferring school property to the town while a school on it was in use.
Ryan Hall said improving service is necessary but declined to back the article without knowing which land would be transferred, arguing that a transfer amounts to declaring the schools no longer need it. She would support authorizing a lease on its own.
Christopher Tracy who favored acting that night cited remarks by the chiefs at the forum, saying simulation exercises had found deficiencies in how quickly responders get information and reach the schools. Tracy said the Select Board, which has experience with land agreements and bids, should be the applicant before the Zoning Board of Appeals, and that zoning and conservation reviews will give residents a chance to raise setback questions. Jaclyn Jorgenson voiced comfort with the town controlling the land.
Chair Pete Miraglia said Town Meeting voters, not the committee, will decide the article, that the warrant is closed and that the committee can only approve it or not. The chair then called the roll on Article 5.
