Doug Carroll
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 25, 2006 02:45 PM
The placement of a cell phone tower on the Liberty Campus of Chandler Traditional Academy, near Chandler Boulevard and Gilbert Road, is proving to be a hard sell for the Chandler Unified School District.
It's the first time a celltower proposed for school property has generated significant opposition, a district official said.
About 20 residents of the school's surrounding neighborhood turned out Wednesday night to address the district's governing board. The protests were punctuated several times by the ring tones of their own cell phones - inadvertently making the point that the technology is here to stay.
Most of the residents' complaints centered on the health risks of a tower in their midst and the prospect of plummeting property values. A few accused the district of selling out to commercial interests.
"If we're worried about cell phones and celltowers then we should be worried about FM radio transmitters, TV transmitters, cordless phones, kitchen microwaves and baby monitors," said Frank Fletcher, the district's associate superintendent for support services. "They're all at that level of radiation."
Matt Osborn, president of the Dobson Place Community Association, which represents 665 residents in the neighborhood, said he had expected "a lot more hysteria" from those who chose to address the board.
"We asked people to stay constructive," he said. "I thought the tone was civil."
Cingular Wireless wants to install a 65-foot tower at CTA-Liberty and has said it will pay the district $95,000 in a lump sum for 15-year use of the site.
According to Fletcher, the district has about 15 celltowers on school property. None of those was contested, he said.
Osborn, who met with Fletcher earlier this week to discuss the tower, agreed that "there are radio waves everywhere" but fears that the district is ignoring the impact on the CTA-Liberty community.
He said Liberty's unusually small site merits special consideration, and he noted that the Scottsdale Unified School District rejected a Cingular Wireless bid for a tower at Cherokee Elementary School last February after parents voiced health concerns.
Fletcher said the district would be in violation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act if it were to restrict the tower based on environmental considerations. He said most of the studies to date on cellular technology pertain to phones and not towers.
The tussle between the neighborhood and the district seems to be a classic case of not-in-my-backyard. After speaking to the governing board for about an hour, only a few residents stayed to hear the board unanimously approve another celltower - a 30-year, $209,000 contract for a Sprint Wireless tower at Basha High.
Fletcher said the district does not yet have a contract for the CTA-Liberty tower and has not determined its placement. The district is expected to have a written deal in place before the board's Sept. 13 meeting, at which the board's approval would be sought.
If the board OKs the tower, the matter would move on to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0825cr-cell25-ON.htm
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