Angry residents of Lovers Lane have succeeded in keeping a third
cell phone tower out of their neighborhood, convincing the County
Board of Supervisors that a 100-foot Cingular Wireless tower would
hurt property values and pose health risks to residents.
Hollister – Angry residents of Lovers Lane have succeeded in keeping a third cell phone tower out of their neighborhood, convincing the County Board of Supervisors that a 100-foot Cingular Wireless tower would hurt property values and pose health risks to residents.
After an Oct. 20 Planning Commission decision granted Cingular Wireless permission to build a facility that would include a 100-foot tower at 6620 Lovers Lane, five area residents immediately filed an appeal. The appeal said the Planning Commission had made various errors in giving Cingular a use permit for the facility, but residents spoke passionately about other reasons the tower should not be constructed at last week’s board meeting.
Carlos Azcona, who has five small children, told the board last week he was worried about the health hazards radiation from yet another cell tower might pose for his family. Alberta Burrows said another tower would be a “local blight,” and her husband Robert gave the board a letter from a local Realtor stating such high cell tower concentration in one area could bring down property values 25-30 percent.
The board decided to postpone voting on the appeal until its Dec. 7 meeting, when it voted unanimously to send Cingular packing.
“Of course we agree with the decision, and we think it’s a benefit for all of the neighbors around here,” said Alberta Burrows. “I think that maybe Cingular wasn’t aware that there was such a great concentration of cell towers here. They had said at (last week’s) meeting that the average lot size in the area was 25 acres, but I don’t think they ever came out and looked at the area.”
Partially because of recent construction, the average lot size is much smaller than that, and there are more people living in the area than Cingular may have anticipated, she said.
Supervisor Reb Monaco said the choice for his vote was easy after Cingular representative Luke Stamos addressed the board last week.
“When he spoke to the board, he really didn’t answer my questions. He was very vague and evasive,” Monaco said, referring to questions he had asked Stamos about looking for other locations for the tower. “I’m not opposed to a cell phone tower. I mean, this is the 21st century. But what I’m opposed to is such a high concentration of them in one area. It seems to me they could spread them out,” Monaco said.
Stamos did not return phone calls for comment.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
