What is Going On Here?
AT&T is proposing to erect a 128 foot
monopole wireless communications tower, AKA a "monopine tree" on the grounds of Parklawn Recreation
Association (PRA) in our community! The tower would be
located on the hill on the right as you make the hairpin turn down the drive to
the pool parking lot. The mechanical equipment would be located on the left
side of the drive just before you begin to turn right into the final descent
into the parking lot. It may not be fenced in. The proposed site is less
than 200 feet from the homes on Crater and Teton Places. The tower
itself would be highly visible to the residents on Crater and Teton Places,
Tonto Court, and Everglades and Yellowstone Drives as well as to the residents
in Dowden Terrace across Holmes Run.
We are convinced that this telecommunications
complex would reduce the property value of nearby homes, and adversely affect
the neighborhood aesthetics and quality of life. The tower will be highly
visible and will negatively impact the aesthetics and quality of life in the
community. The arborist hired by AT&T and/or its installation company says,
“the tower itself is so tall it cannot be hidden by vegetation no matter where
it is.”
There are very real safety risks involved, too. If the equipment compound and the tower are not fenced, as has been contemplated, people and pets can get hurt. These types of structures can draw vandalism. The tower is proposed to have artificial "tree limbs" to hide the antennae - but these are susceptible to gathering ice and/or falling off due to weather/wind and other damage. They do not fall straight down, but can fall in a radius of up to 250 feet. Just like any falling branch, falling ice or artificial branches can cause significant damage to the nearby properties or be fatal for people or pets that are struck.
While we cannot yet measure the negative health
effects of the transmissions from the cell tower, we do know that any risk will
be elevated because of the tower’s close proximity to residential property, the
pool and to the school. We strongly believe that this project should not
proceed as planned.
How Did This Happen?
AT&T and the PRA Board have talked for years, off and on about putting a cell tower on the pool property. AT&T filed an application in 2009 to put a cell tower on the property down on the land by the area where the tennis courts used to be. However, their application proved not to be viable because that location was in the flood zone. A revised application is pending and the location of the tower and its equipment would be as described above.
AT&T does not have any obligation to notify their members or the community of any cell tower applications or proposed locations until the application is going to the Planning Commission for consideration. AT&T must hold a public hearing at that point and properly notify the adjacent land holders and the community in general.
The PRA Board has opted not to involve their members in the decision. They did not approach the surrounding communities for input until this year when they distributed some flyers to various houses in each community giving notice of the meeting held on September 11, 2012. For the first time, PRA heard a great deal from the community about the opposition to having a cell tower in the community.
What's Next?
The AT&T application is being revised to show the tower and its equipment on both sides of the pool driveway. We are monitoring the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning to get a copy as soon as they file it.
AT&T Balloon Fly on February 2nd and Mason District Land Use Committee Meeting on February 26th. See the News & Events section of this site to find out more. YOUR PRESENCE IS CRITICAL!
Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross has said that AT&T must hold another community meeting prior to the MDLUC meeting on February 26th. This is an informational meeting and the issue will have to be before the MDLUC once more as a decision item before the committee sends it's recommendation (up or down on the proposed cell tower) to the Fairfax County Land Use Committee.
While this is going on, the Department of Planning and Zoning staff will prepare a
Staff Report, which will almost certainly recommend approval unless we can get our information to them. The report will
be presented at a public hearing before the Planning Commission on , and the
Board usually endorses the staff recommendation at that point. Sometimes they may exert
their authority by changing something minor, but they
are very unlikely to rule counter to staff recommendation.
Can It Be Stopped?
It can ... but it won't be easy. DPZ, even though
they are public servants, are not easily swayed by public opinion. To be fair,
that isn't their job. They make their rulings based simply on compliance with
regulations. The bottom line is that if the application makes it to the public
hearing with the Planning Commission , it will almost certainly be approved.
But there is a way. If we can demonstrate to AT&T, Supervisor Penny Gross, and the Parklawn Recreation Association that the community is not in favor of the tower, we can have an impact. Putting a cell tower on or near residential land is not a priority for the county and AT&T will have limited patience to battle it out with the community - and we are in this for the long haul. It's also bad press for AT&T. So,
faced with enough community opposition, they might decide that it's just not
worth it. That is what happened in other areas.
Why Do These Towers Have to be So Tall?
Good question. The applications invariably state
something like "this is the minimum height required to meet <insert
carrier name> coverage requirements". Baloney. They want to put multiple carriers on the same pole. Conveniently, this conforms to county
guidelines for co-location. But the antennae need to be 10 feet apart ... so
the third carrier will be at least 20 feet from the top of the pole. It seems
like maybe 128 (the proposed heights) minus 20 is the real minimum.
What About Those Health Concerns?
The county, the telecommunication
companies, and every U.S. Government organization with a say in the matter will
tell you that these towers are perfectly safe. They emit radiation at levels
that are thousands of times below FCC standards. This part is true.
But the fact is that the FCC standards are flawed. They are designed to protect against the short-term thermal affects of
radiation; to ensure, in other words, that you don't heat up like a potato in a
microwave oven. They refuse to acknowledge the potential for long-term biological
effects of constant exposure. Elsewhere in the world, standards are generally
much stricter. Independent research has repeatedly demonstrated correlation, if
not cause and effect, between proximity to cell towers and various medical
conditions. We can't say for sure that the towers are dangerous ... but we
can't honestly say that they are safe either. We really just don't know.
Some have characterized the recent proliferation of
cell phones, antennae, and other forms of wireless communication as the largest
biological experiment in human history. Is it really an experiment we want to
conduct on our children?
The Telecommunications act of 1996 contains a provision that makes it a
violation of Federal law for local governments to deny cell tower applications
based on "environmental" factors. This has been widely interpreted to
include "health" factors, even though the word "health" is
never actually mentioned. The powerful telecommunications lobby does everything
they can to encourage this interpretation, and local governments have been
extremely reluctant to consider health-based arguments when evaluating these
projects, for fear of ending up in Federal court. It's enough to make you
wonder, sometimes, just who it is that our government is trying to protect.
