The Bethlehem Central School District Board of Education approved moving forward with plans for a cell tower near the district’s Operations and Maintenance building in a 4-3 vote at its Wednesday, Nov. 18, meeting.
The district will now sign a letter of consent with Independent Towers LLC, who responded to the district’s request for proposals earlier this year. Independent will move their plans ahead to the Town of Bethlehem Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board, both of which must hold public hearings and give approvals before the tower can be built.
The decision effectively takes the building of the tower out of the district’s hands and places it before the town.
The vote came after a lengthy and heated public hearing on the matter, during which board President James Dering had to gavel audience members back to order on several occasions.
Daniel Schweigard of Independent Towers kicked the meeting off by giving a presentation on his company’s proposal to the school district. The company had pitched three tower locations originallythe Operations and Maintenance building and sites near Hamagrael and Clarksville elementary schoolsbut the Board of Education in October voted to rule out the elementary school locations.
Schweigard was joined by Lou Cornacchia, president of New Rochelle-based Scinetx Corporation, which conducts studies on cell tower radiation levels, among other things.
Cornacchia placed his seal of approval on the cell tower’s health implications, saying that even with four providers placing antennas there, in the `worst case scenario` the level of radiation, or RF energy, put out by the tower would only rise to 1.38 percent of the FCC maximum allowable level.
`There is no threat here if the facility was installed and operated with four carriers,` he said.
Cornacchia said that while his company has conducted similar tests for other tower companies, this is the first time he’s worked with Independent.
Schweigard said that one service provider has lined up to use the proposed tower, with room for three more. The tower would be 110 feet tall, and be located about 400 feet from the nearest home and 1,400 feet from the high school.
A number of residents and parents rose to protest the tower, taking aim at Cornacchia’s assessment of the health risks, among other things.
`Do we as a town want to make the decision to be the guinea pigs?` asked Janet Sorrell, who like other speakers likened the government’s knowledge of RF radiation to the dangers of lead paint or mercury, which turned out to be serious health risks.
`I didn’t feel reassured by that information,` she continued.
Cornacchia countered by saying that the level of RF energy coming from a cell tower pales next to what one is exposed to by talking on a cell phone, standing in front of a microwave or even walking by a motion sensor, and that technologies emitting high levels of such radiation have been in use for decades.
`We as a community have been exposed to an ambient RF environment for the last 70 years,` he said. `This is not a new environment we’re exposed to.`
Others noted that the potential revenue from the tower is just a sliver of the district’s $88 million budget. Schweigard said the district stands to realize $24,000 annually with one carrier, and that figure increase every year by 3 percent. The company would also pay property taxes to the town, with an estimated assessment of $250,000 on the facility.
While the vote was split, board members were in agreement that $24,000 is not an insignificant amount of money, especially considering the dire fiscal straits that lie ahead. It was noted the tower could pay for six modified sports coaches or make up the cost of holding night games with change to spare.
`Last year we had to cut $1.5 million out of this year’s budget, and we’re looking to do that again,` said board Vice President Lisa Allendorph. `$20,000 would at least add something to that.`
`If it’s not this, then what is the community willing to give up and sacrifice?` asked board member Charmaine Wijeyesinghe. `Things will have to be given up.`
The possibility of a cell tower on district property was raised during last year’s budget discussions, when an emphasis was placed on developing alternate revenue streams to offset tough financial times.
District officials also noted that there is another proposal for a cell tower on private land already before the Town of Bethlehem that would be near Eagle Elementary School. If that tower were built, students would be exposed to a tower closer than Independent’s proposed location and the district would not realize any rent.
`I think we’re going to end up with a cell tower here anyhow, and I would prefer it wasn’t next to Eagle Elementary,` said board member Lynne Lenhardt.
Cell service is spotty in the area and practically nonexistent inside the high school, but there would be no need for two towers to be located next to each other.
It was not immediately clear when the letter of consent between the district and Independent would be signed, or when the company would take the project to the town. Under federal law, a municipality cannot reject a cell tower application on the grounds of health concerns.
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