Dozens Raise Health Concerns with Small Cell Towers at Hearing
A resident holds a sign at Tuesday night’s cell tower hearing.
Dozens of people Tuesday night expressed their opposition to proposed zoning rules that would regulate where and how small cell towers would be placed in neighborhoods, many of them citing health concerns for the next wave in wireless communications.
However, the Federal Communications Commission has ruled that local governments cannot use health reasons for denying where the towers can be placed.
That didn’t stop speaker after speaker bringing up their worries that the radiation from 5G communications towers could affect their health, especially with gear mounted on poles not far from their houses.
“If you don’t know what the safety associated with these of these things, you should have the companies should put a sticker on the tower: ‘Warning, don’t stand here for more than 10 minutes.’ Something that tells us what this tower is emitting,” said Ian Dingwall of North Potomac. “Simply saying the government won’t let me is a mistake.”
The zoning regs are contained in a document called ZTA 18-11.
Said resident Sue Present: “Please reject this ZTA. Work with us.” “Work with us” was a sticker warn by many of the opponents of the zoning regulations.
Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Slavin noted a number of weaknesses in the regulations. It reduces a setback from a home to 30 feet; Slavin suggested the regs retain a 60-foot setback.
The new regs also allow larger equipment boxes, from 12 cubic feet to 20 cubic feet. In some cases, the new equipment could be installed with no community hearing. And the ZTA makes no provision that a new pole could be inspected and certified.
Forty-four people signed up to testify at the hearing, and a handful supported the arrival of the advanced technology. Robert Duncan, representing the Fairyland Acres Homeowners Association, said his community now has spotty cell coverage and he supported a “strategic application” of small cell towers. He arrived with a petition of his neighbors who supported the ZTA.
“We want four bars and 5G,” he said.
Before the hearing started, Council President Hans Riemer called 5G “the future of wireless infrastructure in the county.”
Roemer and County Executive Ike Leggett issued a statement Tuesday criticizing the FCC for pre-empting local governments.
The council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee is scheduled to consider the regulations on Oct. 1. Committee Chairwoman Nancy Floreen said a later date would push passage after the election.
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