Billerica Select Board delays Verizon cable vote, seeks senior discount concession

BILLERICA -- July 15, 2024, Billerica Select Board postpones Verizon cable license vote and directs a $100,000 housing grant to study the 250 Boston Road parcel. The board voted unanimously to continue the public hearing on a proposed five-year Verizon New England cable television license renewal to September 9, after Selectman Michael Rosa and Selectwoman Kim Conway pushed back on the absence of a senior discount; the proposed license would deliver $289,998 in public access capital funds and 5 percent of gross revenues to the town. Special cable counsel Bill Solomon, who negotiated the agreement, recommended immediate approval, warning that "time kills all good deals" in a fast-changing regulatory environment, but a board majority wanted Verizon representatives to appear in person. In a separate 4-1 vote, with Rosa dissenting, the board chose to direct the state housing choice grant to a feasibility study of 250 Boston Road, rejecting both a Technology Park option and a motion to return the funds to the state. The board also approved a lengthy preliminary warrant article list for the fall Town Meeting and heard a two-hour informational presentation on a preliminary proposal to build a 55-plus residential community of more than 200 triplex units on the Swanson Meadows Golf Course property, a project that would require at minimum two Town Meeting votes and a legal determination on the town's right of first refusal.