Commissioners give thumbs down to cell towers at school
by Jennifer Ffrench Parker Cross Roads News (reprinted with permission)
(click headline for full text)
Here is the full text regarding the actions taken by our county commissioners this week.
From Crossroads Newspaper (and thank you to reporter Jennifer Parker for remaining dedicated to this topic)....
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| Click the image of the DeKalb tower regulations above to review the full text. |
In a March 27 letter to CEO Burrell Ellis – signed by all seven members – the commissioners said the county should not ignore its ordinance unless it has been proven in court that they must ignore their adopted policy.
The commissioners – Elaine Boyer, Jeff Rader, Larry Johnson, Sharon Barnes Sutton, Lee May, Kathie Gannon and Stan Watson – said that if any private company applied for a building permit to erect a cell tower in a single-family residential district, it would be denied.
“Therefore we respectfully recommend that the Planning and Sustainability Department not issue any building permits for the cell towers to the Board of Education, or any other property owner without the owner complying with applicable DeKalb County zoning law,” they said.
Walter Woods, the school system’s spokesman, said Thursday that the district would like the ability to raise money for schools through its lease with T-Mobile, just like other school districts are doing.
“Other neighboring districts have multiple towers and have no problems,” he said. “But the county is our partner and we will work with them and we respect their counsel and guidance.”
Woods said that T-Mobile will be applying for the permits, and not the district. The district signed 30-year contracts with the wireless provider on Dec. 8 to erect the 150-foot cell towers at six elementary schools, two high schools and a comprehensive school.
The schools, picked by the DeKalb School Board in its July 12, 2011 vote, are Flat Rock and Princeton elementary and MLK Jr. High in Lithonia; Briarlake and Narvie J. Harris elementary in Decatur; Smoke Rise Elementary in Stone Mountain; Jolly Elementary in Clarkston; and Lakeside High and Margaret Harris Comprehensive School in Atlanta.
Under the agreement, T-Mobile will pay the district more than $2.3 million in rent over 30 years and each of the schools’ PTSAs will get a $25,000 one-time payment and an additional $25,000 each time T-Mobile co-locates other providers on the towers. The school district will be paid $16,800 per year plus $4,800 for each provider that co-locates on the towers.
Through Thursday, he said the company had not yet made any applications to the county.
“They are still doing site preparation,” he said.
Since the school board’s decision, parents and community residents opposed to the decision, have been pushing for a position from the board of commissioners. They have also pursued state legislators to pass laws exempting the use of school properties for cell towers.
Opponents of the decision said that enough is not known of the health risks of cell tower emissions on children’s growing bodies, and that the school properties are primarily in residential neighborhoods and the 150-foot towers will negatively affect the value of homeowners properties.
In their May 27 letter to the CEO, the commissioners argued that the Board of Education’s leasing of schools for cell towers to increase revenues is a “proprietary function and not a governmental function.
“Rather than being passive regarding DeKalb County zoning regulations and ignoring citizens complaints about cell towers in residential zones and on school property, we recommend DeKalb County take a more active role to protect the interest of citizens and uphold adopted ordinances.”
The commissioners also said that the Board of Education cell towers decision places the county government in “an untenable position.”
“It is the policy of DeKalb County as determined by the Board of Commissioners to prohibit cell towers on single-family residentially-zones properties,” the commissioners said. “This zoning ordinance was established to ensure the safety of county residents and to protect property values of single-family homes.”
A response from Ellis was not available at press time.
Read more: CrossRoadsNews - Commissioners give thumbs down to cell towers at school
GTCO-ATL Comment: For the past 10 months we have been speaking out against cell towers on school grounds and researching this issue to better understand the politics, science, economic and legal issues surronding it. We learned about other communities in the U.S. that were "blindsided" by the issue and had not even considered a policy regarding cell phone towers and how their placement might be regulated.
But, that was not the case here. To read DeKalb County's cell tower regulations, click here.
Thank you to the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners for doing the right thing and sending a letter to the CEO Burrell Ellis's office informing him that you do not want to see cell towers constructed that defy our own policies. Thank you for listening to those who have come before you in person, by phone and in writing to ask that you get involved and protect us and our communities.
Thank you to the members of the DeKalb Delegation who signed on in favor of the local bill, sponsored by Karla Drenner, a radiation expert who had concerns about cell towers being placed so close to children who are the most vulnerable to the RF emissions.
The CEO Burrell Ellis and his advisors now hold all the cards. We will be posting contact details on our website for the areas of the CEO's office that may have input into the decision. We will urge him to review the case law on the exemption issue in Georgia which clearly states that structures on public property that are for proprietary purposes are not exempt.
Therefore, a Special Administrative Permit (aka, no public input) is not the proper process for T-mobile. They need to apply for a Special Land Use Permit, just like anyone else wishing to put up a cell phone tower anywhere else in the county.
Thank you to every person in DeKalb County who has taken time to learn about this issue and show support for the schools and communities currently in danger of being affected. Our website will hit the 15,000th page view mark any day now and the countywide petition, once closed and now re-opened due to community feedback, still gains new signatures almost daily! www.thepetitionsite.com/1/GTCO-ATL.
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