Fight or Flight? This Might Help ...

What requirements do personal wireless communications licensees have to determine whether a site is in a flood plain?

What must they do if the placement of a tower might require disturbing the nests or migration patterns of certain species of birds?

A sign seen in the community near Lakeside High School,
the site of a planned cell phone tower from T-mobile.

What about a tower that is proposed for the grounds of a school that is 50 or more years of age and therefore conidered a historically significant building? 

What if a school's architechture is an example of the efforts made in Atlanta toward true racial integration, creating schools that were intended to end the "separate but equal" time in American history?

Would a cell tower on these school grounds harm the historical value of these significant structures? 

Would a cell tower create an exodus from these schools, especially in light of the potential for new charter schools on the horizon? 

Could cell towers be the way a deceiptful school board plots to close certain schools before their time, possibly leading to their eventual demolition?


Good questions and ones that you should be asking your zoning or contract law attorney to immediately check into if your home is located near:

• Atlanta's Margaret Harris Comprehensive School for the mentally and physically disabled children throughout the entire county or
• Lakeside High School, also in Atlanta, which is known for its participation in the Emory Lavista Parent Council. 

Regardless of whether or not the radiation from a cell tower is proven to cause negative health effects, they are undisputed in causing a drop in the value of your property due to the simple fact that people are concerned about the potential health effects.  So, real or imagined, you will likely be losing investment value in your home if you do not act quickly and take action before the cell tower is built.  Once the tower is up and the associated school begins using it for educational purposes, you will have a much more difficult time proving that there is no substantiated need. 

 

So, if you are currently looking for a way to stop the construction and work on your legal challenge to the school board's authority to ignore zoning laws, here is something that might help at least buy you some valuable time.  T-mobile will have to wait to talk to the FCC if a vaid challenge is brought forward to the FCC on the grounds below.  And, the FCC must post a 30 day public notice to determine the extent of the public concern over these issues.  So, they will have to wait while you get your funds together to challenge T-mobile's right to build.  After all, the original contracts were signed on July 12, 2011, a day after the school board approved the deal.  They had two periods of 6-months each to get their permits.  Those due diligence time periods have expired as of July 12, 2012.

 

Unless we hear otherwise, Get the Cell Out - Atlanta asserts the belief that there is no legal claim to any of our school grounds.  It is simple contract law and we have readily found all the evidence by requesting the contracts and signatures or approval memos by Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson, who signed the orginal deal. 

Later, in Dec. 2011,Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson signed a duplicate lease to transfer the legal copy to her name upon completion of her first 90 days as DCSD Superintendent.  but the contracts were already being executed as various citizens have photographed contractors on site at various schools as early as September 2011 and November 2011.  If Atkinson signed the only lease, these contractors would not have been allowed to work on school grounds.  Also, most FCC permits were issued in Sept. 2011 and that would not happen if T-mobile could not prove it had a lease for the property.

The only ones who can take a legal standing on your behalf is YOU!  So, please do not give up.  This fight is one that is worth it and your legal fees will likely be refunded per the FCC Telecommunications Act of 1996.  It states that the judicial branch will be the one to decide the boundaries between the federal legislation and the point that local control may override it in favor of the residents affected. 

In other words, they have expected for there to be lawsuits that would arise from the legislation and have planned to allow them in order to sort out the fine details of such a large and fast expansion.  If you do not stand up for your rights, you make it harder for others to come along behind you and try to take a similar stand when they are the ones being run over.  It is not fair to you or them, but right now our system is not very fair.  But, it can still work if you do your part.  For them to win, there has to be voter apathy and general lack of concern by residents, parents and taxpayers.  If you do not like the sound of that, then you know what you need to do. 

Here is more information to help:

There is a movement throughout the U.S. to preserve our collective history by preserving many of our school buildings and grounds so that we have evidence of the time frames during which they were built.  These schools tell a story about the history and struggle in American to both education a nation as well  as change social values toward greater acceptance of ou

A historical site must also comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). as well as other mandatory federal environmental statutes. The FCC's rules that implement the federal environmental statutory provisions are contained in sections 1.1301-1.1319. The FCC's environmental rules place the responsibility on each applicant to investigate all the potential environmental effects, and disclose any significant effects on the environment in an Environmental Assessment (EA), as outlined in section 1.1311, prior to constructing a tower.

The applicant is required to consult section 1.1307 to determine if its proposed antenna structure will fall under any of the listed categories that may significantly affect the environment. If it does, the applicant must provide an EA prior to proceeding with the tower construction and. under section 1.1312, must await FCC approval before commencing any such construction even if FCC approval is not otherwise required for such construction.

The FCC places all proposals that may significantly impact the environment on public notice for a period of 30 days, seeking any public comments on the proposed structures.

The categories set forth in section 1.1307 include:

• Wilderness Area
• Wildlife Preserve
• Endangered Species
• Historical Site
• Indian Religious Site
• Flood Plain
• Wetlands
• High Intensity White Lights in Residential Neighborhoods
• Excessive Radiofrequency Radiation Exposure