Cemetery Cell Tower Plan Upsets Neighbors

BOSTON -- T-Mobile's proposal to build a 40-foot cell phone tower in a Framingham, Mass., cemetery in order to eliminate some "dead spots" on the turnpike nearby has enraged people who live around the 150-year-old graveyard.

Cemetery Cell Phone Tower Draws Controversy

The company wants to erect the tower in a wooded patch at the edge of St. George Cemetery, and the Archdiocese of Boston, which owns the land, has approved the plan, the Boston Globe reported.

Longtime neighbors in the Cherry Street Neighborhood Association, however, say the tower and the 8-foot fence that would surround it -- as well as maintenance trucks -- would violate the memory of the deceased buried in the 11-acre cemetery.

"The Catholic Cemetery Association of the Archdiocese of Boston takes pride in providing a fitting-resting place for our beloved dead, especially the poor, as well as sacred places of prayer, beauty and peace for those who mourn. Under no circumstances would we tolerate, nor would we act in a way that would break that bond of commitment that we have to our deceased or their loved ones," archdiocese spokesman Terry Donilon said in a statement.

Residents said they're worried about graves being disturbed and said they are looking out for the dead interred there because, "They can't speak up."

"We've had to fight to get information from the beginning. We were not really notified clearly," said tower opponent John Marshall. "We don’t really have a good sense of what this structure will look like."

The archdiocese said it would never do anything to desecrate a cemetery and T-Mobile said it thought the cemetery location would be "less invasive" than other spots.

"Clearly, we are not interested in being bad neighbors, but we believe that the location is in such a secluded area that T-Mobile's plans should have no impact on the cemetery," Donilon said.

This would be the first time the archdiocese would make a deal to use graveyard space for a freestanding tower.

The neighbors have collected 80 signatures objecting to the proposed flagpole-style tower, which would sit on a 24-square-foot base in a woody, undeveloped part of the cemetery, about 40 yards away from marked gravesites, the Globe reported.

The Framingham Zoning Board of Appeals has yet to approve or reject the measure. It is scheduled to hold a hearing on the application next Monday.