Pittsfield Health Board Rescinds Verizon Cease & Desist Order

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Board of Health has voted to rescind its cease and desist order on the Verizon cell tower at 877 South St. after the telecommunications company filed a case against the city of Pittsfield in federal court.

Chair Bobbie Orsi said litigation is not the solution right now. Instead, the panel will pursue collaborative discussions to address the issue.

"When we issued the cease and desist order, we did that as a strategy to have a conversation with Verizon, I felt like that in our heart, in my heart, we really wanted them to come talk to us about this," she said at Wednesday's meeting.

"And we never wanted, I never wanted a long protracted legal argument. we wanted something that was going to be helpful for the residents in that neighborhood so I guess my feeling now is that litigation is perhaps not the process that's going to get us to — that's not going to help resolve the issues right now."

The board was in agreement with Orsi's thinking.

"I don't think that litigation at this time is the most effective vehicle to provide a remedy for folks in that neighborhood," board member Steve Smith said.

"As much as we want to help them — that's never been the issue."

It was also suggested that the board continue to do advocacy at the state and local level.

In early April, the board voted to act on the order nearly two months after first approving it. This vote was conditioned on the order being withdrawn without prejudice if the board was unable to retain legal counsel prior to an administrative or judicial proceeding.

The order stated that the cellular company had one week to respond or come to the table with a solution that pleased the panel, which would be to remove or turn off the tower. The board had planned on meeting on April 20 to follow up on the order but never met.

Last month, Verizon, operating as Pittsfield Cellular Telephone, asked for a declaratory judgment from the U.S. District Court in Springfield against the city.  The company claimed that the board violated Section 332 of the federal Telecommunications Act (TCA) of 1996 that prohibits state and local governments from regulating a personal wireless service facility because of perceived health effects from radiofrequency emissions that comply with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations.

"The harm that we have suffered has not changed, your authority to act under the plenary are absolute powers of the Board of Health and Massachusetts state law and nuisance law and environmental law and Mass case law, that has not changed," she said at Wednesday's meeting.

"Your due diligence and authority as recognized by our Mayor Linda Tyer, that has not changed, what has changed is that we are here now and that our attorneys are here now and that we're standing with you, that we hope to carry some of this load. The city needs to hire legal counsel so we can let the judge decide."

The Board of Health, meanwhile, will look at other strategies and will possibly discuss the issue at its July meeting.

"Thank you for your due diligence and your time and energy," Orsi said to her colleagues.

"This is a very complicated legally, medically, public health-wise this is a very difficult topic and hopefully we can create a collaborative approach together to help address the residents' issues."

Board member Brad Gordon added that this is an entire community issue.

Pittsfield Holds Second Master Plan Workshop

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:43PM / Wednesday, April 01, 2026

Participants added notes to the sectors — such as transportation, open space and neighborhoods — being reviewed by the Master Plan Steering Committee. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The city is about halfway through developing its new master plan, and held a second community workshop this past Thursday. 

"Basically, we're talking to people from Pittsfield and trying to figure out, among a broad sector of issues that affect us, what is our goal and vision for the next 10 years, where we want Pittsfield to be in 10 years, and what changes do we want to see?" Director of Community Development Justine Dodds explained to about 20 community members and city staff at Conte Community School. 

"That will be broken down into some goals and objectives and then some measurable action items that we can all take as a community to move that forward."  

The Pittsfield Master Plan is the policy guide for future physical development, covering land use, infrastructure, sustainability, and more. The plan was last updated in 2009, and Pittsfield has engaged the VHB engineering firm and CommunityScale consultants to bring it through 2036. 

There have been two public listening sessions, a Master Plan Advisory Committee guiding the work, and small focus groups for each section. On poster boards, residents were able to see and mark the draft goals and actions under six themes: economic development, housing opportunities, transportation and infrastructure, environment and open space, neighborhoods and community, and governance and collaboration. 

In November 2025, community members participated in a similar exercise at City Hall. 

Transportation and infrastructure had several notes on them. Suggestions included using infrastructure to address the urban heat island effect, a light rail system, and continuing to implement Complete Streets standards for roadway construction projects. 

"I want to ride my bike to my friend's house safely," one respondent wrote. 

Under economic development, people suggested digital business infrastructure for the downtown, food hall opportunities, and nightlife opportunities.