Review of Cell Tower Contracts Reveals New Concerns in DeKalb County

Superintendent Michael Thurmond and DeKalb School Board Members Marshall Orson both spoke last week to a group of parents at the Tucker Parent Council Meeting which was held at Brockett Elementary School.  You can watch his entire presentation as well as the Q&A on You Tube, here.

Homeowners from various parts of Tucker attended and raised concerns about the cell phone tower decision which has not been remedied in two years time.  A representative from the Smoke Rise Homeowners' Association was in attendance and questioned whether or not the contracts were valid.  Mr. Orson stated that the county commissioners might be a better route for inquiries since they would be familiar with the permitting process.  Get the Cell Out - ATL and others have continued to bring the matter before the new Superintendent and board, but have had little or no response.

Another group concerned about cell phone towers in DeKalb County, specifically concerned about the tower that was planned for Briarlake Elmentary School, has also been making inquires.  Here's an excerpt from that letter which was forwarded to a GTCO-ATL follower:

Dear DeKalb BOE Members,

There is a permit application impending that needs your direct attention.  Please do NOT approve any documentation to install cell towers on DeKalb County School property.

The previous board approved a contract with T-mobile to install cell towers on July 8th, 2011.(The meeting was actually on July 11, 2011.)  This business was done in direct opposition to the will off the parents and citizens of DeKalb County.  In your current capacity as new leaders, and I will say it, promised saviors ..., of our county schools, you have the opportunity to oppose this measure.  The whol of DeKalb has spoken against this misuse of our school land in public vote on July 31, 2012 with a resounding majority vote against placing cell towers on school land in DeKalb County.  You must stop the erection of these towers upon our school gardens and in our backyards and communities.   (...)

  ---  Signed by President, No Tower Briarlake, LLC

The letter goes on to tell the board what should be done, or not done, placing the ownership on them, collectively, to either allow or deny cell towers.  While GTCO-ATL has also reached out to the new Superintendent, speaking at the February 2013 school board meeting and submitting documentation that has asked for a resolution against the FUTURE placement of any cell phone towers on school grounds, we had no expectations that this newly appointed and partially elected group of individuals would have any sort of authority over the cell phone towers from two years ago which have not been built.

This letter and similar conversations we have had recently with other concerned residents made us go back and examine the T-mobile contracts again.  We are not attorneys and this website is not a professional opinion by any means, however, we are very familiar with the cell tower situation as we have followed since May 2011 and have encouraged all schools on the list to work together in a united front against this intrusion onto their school grounds.  In reading the information again, here are some issues to consider:

• As we have previously reported, all 9 schools on the list approved by the BOE in July 2011 have received cell tower contracts.  We previously believed that all contracts except for Lakeside High School had expired as they were past the final due diligence period as stated on their contracts and had not been issued permits from the county.  However, in reviewing the Lakeside High School contract, we suspect it may be a master contract that will potentially trigger the construction starts of all other towers previously thought to be past their contract's stipulated deadline.
• The Briarlake group has reported via email that money has been given to the original 9 schools as part of the agreement, however it is not clear if Lakeside received a signed contract.
• And, if Lakeside High School is the master contract but Lakeside no longer has the same need for better cell phone reception that they did two years ago, then there may be no need for a tower.  If that's true then the contract cannot go into full effect.
• The question is:  Does anyone who lives near Lakeside High School care whether or not a cell phone tower goes up near the baseball diamond, near the homes on Oak Grove Road?  Do they even know that they are getting a cell tower?  Will they complain as loudly as the nearby Briarlake community did when they thought they were getting a cell tower?  
• And, the last thing we wanted to point out is that the cell towers slated for 9 schools may be going in at the schools, but lookout DeKalb!  Those schools might be moving to new locations as per SPLOST approval to tear down some schools and rebuild them.  No one specified they had to be rebuilt in the same locations!  

We have communicated the above notions with the current BOE and are awaiting their response.  Feel free to provide your feedback on this issue in the comments section as well.