12/23/2003 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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get past the band members as it is let alone putting up another structure. The kids seem to congregate on each corner of the bleachers; they don't sit in the stands. They play football games over there and that is their right. His group has raised thousands and thousands of dollars and they will continue to raise money until they get what they need. They do need new lights as they are outdated but they feel putting one pole up and putting existing old lights up there is going to make the aesthetics of the whole complex horrible. There will be 7 poles at 60 feet and 1 steel pole at 120 feet with the same lights. They are not serving the purpose of the community and trying to beautify the complex with putting one pole up. He said their group is looking to have 4 of those poles, 2 on each side, with the new lights. They would hope Sprint would be willing to go to the school board to discuss some of those issues. Their group is going to be very involved with the renovation of the stadium and as taxpayers, they want to be heard too. He said he is not sure of the terms of any lease with the school board. He asked if the school district will receive new revenue if additional carriers come on board because he would assume Sprint would charge them rent. Mr. Scarl said they know, the residents present tonight, know what a battle it has been to pass school levies here. They are looking for every bit of new revenue they can get for the schools. He hopes that Sprint can be good to the neighborhood and that is all they are asking for and they want what is right for the kids because this is something they will have to look at for many years. Mrs. Joan Puinno came forward to address the board. She said she is against the tower and Mr. Richards made it all sound so easy. She said the applicant has to be 20 feet off the western property line. She called the Fire Department to find out about that because the school is in the flood zone, the football field is. She asked the Fire Department if just an asphalt drive can be put in there and she was told it has to be able to hold all the emergency equipment. She said regardless of being grounded, cell towers do catch on fire. There also needs to be a parking space at the base of the facility. There has to be 15 feet of landscaping, not 5 feet. The fence has to be 6 feet or else they would need a variance. She said she clirnbed over the fence by the football field and took a tape measure and measured the areas that are stated in the blueprints. She said the bleachers are 73 feet away not counting where they will put the pad with their equipment. It is too close to a structure, which is another variance. She asked if anyone has information about the megahertz. When they do the testing on people to say there are no harmful affects, they test an adult for a minimum of 6 minutes, to a maximum of 30 minutes. Then they check the body and say there are no adverse affects and that is the end of it. People who have to live under it, kids who play under it, and all the things involved with the school, that is continuous use. She showed the board members a stack of paperwork she has collected in the 4 weeks since she heard about the proposal. There are lawsuits against cell towers being on school property because of the potential hazardous affects. They now have sued the FCC because they did not set guidelines for the affects on children's health. She said it is unrealistic to measure separately the exposure of each square centimeter of the body. Actual compliance with the FCC limits on RF emissions should be determined by spatially averaging a person's exposure over the projected area of an adult human body. It says nothing about children. She mentioned she has a copy of the charter that goes through the telecommunications issue. She said she doesn't know if the base has been changed but originally it was a 50x50 concrete square. It came into where the track is and now they say they let it out. They still need a 15 foot area of landscaping and everyone knows it is already squashed in that area. Kids will try to climb that cell tower no matter what the applicant says. There are so many health hazards and the school isn't doing anything about it because the school is getting the money. The school invited the cell tower people to do this. The city didn't want it. The city needs the money so maybe it should go at city hall. She said school districts are now banning the towers and well-known health organizations are now demanding more information from the scientific community on the health hazards. She then read some notes from the World Health Organization and referred to some of the other organizations she read about. She said they need to put a moratorium on the cell towers. A generation of kids is involved and it is up to the board to do some homework. She has been to a Council meeting, School Board meeting, and now this and it seems like everyone takes the information passed on to them and does not look beyond that. All these places are banning towers, such as California, Florida, parts of Virginia and all of Canada have a moratorium on all the schools. She said the law department knows the city has designated other areas. They could very well go on any right of way on I-480. 1bIrs. Eleanor Slezak came forward to say she is against the tower. It 5