SOUTHWICK – At the Southwick Planning Board’s Feb. 9 meeting, the board edited its written decision in regard to the denied Verizon cell tower and approved a site plan modification for New England Disc Golf Center.

After denying the special permit application for a proposed Verizon Cell Tower off Liberty Lane at the Jan. 19 meeting, the board went through their written defense of the decision and made mostly grammatical changes to strengthen their case.

One of the biggest changes to the document during the editing process was the inclusion of language about Verizon potentially raising the height of the tower above the bylaw’s limits, brought forward by Board Member Dave Spina.

“One hundred and twenty-four feet is the maximum height for the antenna on the tower as proposed on the application. If you look at the law, it says they can file a request to increase the height of the tower and if it doesn’t substantially increase the height of the tower, we have to approve it,”

Spina added this decision was the only time they could vote against the increase.

“This is our only time to say yes or no and if we approve this now, we approve it up to 136 feet and if we do the math, that does not meet our required 3.5 times to a residential property line,” he said.

The board ultimately approved the revised decision.

Along with editing the written decision, the board also hosted a public hearing for a site plan modification for New England Disc Golf Center, and Department of Public Works Director Randy Brown jumped onto the call to represent the course and discuss the proposal.

“We want to have more opportunities for the public to come and use the property. Not just to just play disc golf but to also for volleyball, corn hole, and bocci courts. We see this facility as a place for people to come hang out for the day and have a lot of fun,” he said.

With the additional activities, Brown added they are also looking to add a trailer to serve food and drinks to customers.

“The next part of our expansion is to bring a trailer to serve food and drink to the public, which would include alcohol sales. We are looking to partner with Powder Hollow Brewery. We’ve had several meetings with them, and we think we have a good plan in place,” he said.

Brown said they would also be expanding parking for the additional activities.

The board unanimously approved the site plan modification.

The Southwick Planning Board next meets on Feb. 23.