The Zoning Board of Appeals denied a proposal last Tuesday to build a cell phone tower in the steeple of the First Congregational Church on Andover Street. The proposal’s denial comes after weeks of controversy, during which a number of residents voiced their concerns over possible health risks caused by cell phone towers in residential areas.
In the end, the ZBA opted to deny the construction of the cell phone tower, saying that the representatives from Omnipoint Communications - who planned to build the T-Mobil tower - hadn’t explored enough possibilities of building the tower in one of Georgetown’s industrial areas.
Georgetown currently has three other cell towers, but they are all located in industrially zoned areas in town. Other nearby towns, including Hamilton and Ipswich, have built similar cell phone towers in residential areas.
Tuesday’s vote came as a relief to many of the abutters to the church, especially Middle Street resident Susan Miller, who had been one of the more vocal residents in opposition to the tower being built.
"We were very happy with the decision," said Miller. "We thought there were just too many risks involved."
Last month, Miller led the charge by gathering signatures from other residents in opposition to the proposal and presented a study to the ZBA, compiled by the International Association of Firefighters’ (IAFF) Division of Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine. The study suggested that the radiation that emits from wireless telecommunications base stations may have some harmful effects on nearby residents.
Omnipoint Communications has 20 days to appeal the ZBA’s decision, but it isn’t known at this point whether the company plans to take that course of action. The next ZBA meeting is on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.
Posted on Sunday, September 17 @ 12:13:41 UTC by admin
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