Subject: (Kirsch) cell phone tower connection (fwd)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 102224 -0600 (CST)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
--------------------------------------------------
Hi everybody:
Things will soon be back to normal -- here on EMF-L -- after the new
year starts. In the meantime, I'm sure many of you will have an
interest in the following..... The sender (Ms Arlene Kirsch) does not
know us yet. She will!!! (Some of you have already received.....)
I am surprised that the discussion below seems to be devoid of any
"health" aspect. That is/will be the major consideration they will
eventually face.... Consider, also, that when "law suit time" comes
(ala the tobacco scenario) -- the towns that have entered into these
agreements with the telecom companies (for a few pieces of silver) ...
WILL ALSO BE LEGITIMATE TARGETS in the litigation!!!!
[My good friend -- former Congressman Hastings Keith -- used to
represent the Cape Cod district. They were well represented then.....
"Hasty" should take an interest in this matter, if he is still there....
He always was a "people-oriented" representative.....]
Cheerio.....Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR.......
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
rbeavers@llion.org................
...It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness...
.................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS...............
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 10:32:53 -0500
From: ackirsch@capecod.net
To: "Roy L. Beavers"
Subject: cell phone tower connection
Hi,
All of you were the "To" list on an email I received - it looks as if there
is a connection among us about fighting cell phone towers?
Would you be willing to let me know your connection and who you are?
I am from Wellfleet, MA and our group has been fighting Omnipoint and our
Selectmen.
I enclose below an article from yesterday's Cape Cod Times which you may
find interesting.
- Arlene Kirsch
Seashore will not dispute cell tower at Truro landfill
A 1996 communications law supersedes the Park Service's effort to ban
the antennas.
By DOUG FRASER
STAFF WRITER
TRURO - In October, the superintendent of the Cape
Cod National Seashore drew a line in the Cape Cod sand.
Acting on advice from National Park Service attorneys, Maria Burks sent
letters to Outer Cape town administrators telling them
cellular phone towers and antennas would not be allowed within park
boundaries, including on town-owned land. The rationale from park
attorneys created a virtual Catch-22 for Outer Cape towns.
The Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires towns to treat
cellular phone companies as a public utility and make a spot for
them in their town. But park attorneys said the towers and antennas were not
public utilities as defined by their legislation and zoning regulations,
and could not be permitted within the park.
Besieged by health activists concerned about possible health effects from
radio frequency emissions from antennas, many land-poor Outer Cape towns
were already looking to the park for the space to locate the towers away
from residential areas.
Last month at their special town meeting, Wellfleet voters balked at the
prospect of fighting a federal ban and rejected a proposal to require
towers to be located on park property.
But while that battle raged Truro Town Administrator Bud Breault was
telling his selectmen they had every right to put a tower on
their landfill, which is located within park boundaries.
Breault said zoning regulations approved by the park when it bought large
portions of the town in the early 1960s were not as specific as park
attorneys claimed.
"The zoning bylaw approved by the park allowed
public utilities," he said, adding that the Telecommunications Act stated
cellular phones are public utilities.
Last week, the Truro selectmen awarded contracts to two companies to
build two towers, including one on the landfill. This week, it was the
park's turn to blink.
Burks said the park would probably not challenge Truro's proposal to put a
tower on the landfill despite her feeling the towers harmed the visual
impact of the landscape.
"Our position hasn't changed at all," she said.
"It's clear to even the dimmest bulb that this kind of intrusion on the
character of the scenery isn't what was envisioned as a public utility."
Still, Burks said she realizes towns are in a bind on locating towers, and
the park wants to help as long as solutions don't damage
the natural look of the Seashore.
Burks hopes to step back from a ban on cellular phone technology and find
an alternative to towers. Cellular phone companies have the technology to
disguise antennas as light posts or pine or other native trees, and to run
cable lines along existing wiring.
She said regulations were being rewritten to clarify exactly what
constitutes a public utility, with an eye on keeping towers out but
allowing these other applications.
Wellfleet health activists, who lost a bitter battle
to require towers to be located within the park, said Truro's success
didn't surprise them.
"That's what we always said about Wellfleet, that if
you confronted the park on this they would back down," said Brent Harold,
who helped spearhead the drive to put the towers on park property in that
town.
Harold said activists were considering petitioning for another special
town meeting, but hadn't come up with any definite plan.
Burks hopes to present alternatives to Truro voters before they go to town
meeting next month. Voters will be looking at two tower
proposals: a 150-foot tower at the landfill, and a 170-foot tower either
replacing or adding to the 150-foot tower currently in place behind the
police/fire station.
Breault said the town has been told by the companies wanting to build them
that the town would only need two towers. They hope to accommodate all six
cellular phone companies vying for Cape customers.
The town would receive a minimum of $1.5 million for
a 20-year lease. When more companies sign on to the tower, the money
goes up from $50,000 to $150,000 a month. Breault said Truro is cash poor
and could use the money to help stabilize its accounts and hold down the
tax rate.
Copyright © 1998 Cape Cod Times. All rights
reserved.
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html