Mona Linstromberg has a problem with cell phone towers, including one planned for the campus area. Linstromberg, the co-founder of Citizens for Responsible Placement of Cell Phone Transmission Towers, took a saw to her cell phone earlier this year — and sent both halves back to Verizon Wireless as a silent protest of tower siting in her neighborhood.
Members of the citizen’s group were anything but silent at a public hearing held Tuesday night at Lane County Courthouse’s Harris Hall. Each speaker had a three-minute limit, but more than 10 representatives from the group signed up to speak, and they tag-teamed their time to give the planning commission a half-hour long PowerPoint presentation. Only one cell phone industry representative spoke.
The Lane County Planning Commission called the hearing to solicit feedback on a proposed ordinance for cell phone tower placement. The commission is working on an ordinance to update the aged Lane County codes governing communications.
“Current provisions of the Lane County code are quite antiquated,” said Kent Howe, a representative from Lane County’s Department of Land Management. “In some zones there’s still provisions for telephone to telegraph exchange.”
Citizens spoke against cell phone towers for many reasons, but health concerns took center stage in their presentation.
“Some documented effects (of cell phone tower transmissions) are memory loss, spatial disorientation and lower sperm count,” said Heather Kent, one of the many tower opponents at the meeting.
Under the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, local governments are prohibited from taking health concern into account when cell phone towers are sited.
“Our government doesn’t take a precautionary view,” said Martha Johnson, another speaker that evening. “It’s ‘innocent until proven guilty.’”
Massachusetts drafted an ordinance requiring cell phone towers to be sited at least 1,000 feet away from schools after a Concord student managed to climb a tower and fall off.
As a result, the citizen’s group is pressing for zoning regulations that label towers as an “attractive nuisance” and distance them away from schools.
Meeting attendees also voiced concern that the cell towers would become obsolete in a matter of years by new satellite technology.
This claim was disputed by Ron Fowler, AT&T real estate manager.
“Satellites will not replace current technology for … years.”
After the ordinance is revised by the commission, it will be presented to the Board of County Commissioners in January.