Central States Towers is looking to install a 305-foot self-supported tower in a county in Southern Indiana, which would be located between 1,500 and 1,800 feet from the nearest residential area, reports batesvillehearldtribune.com.
Attorney Russell Brown, representing Verizon, one of the carriers that plans to co-locate on the site, argued the tower was necessary to broadband access in the rural area. Brown said broadband access should be treated as a public utility.
“Why are we going closer and closer to residential environments?” Brown asked rhetorically during a recent zoning hearing, “Many live in wireless only households. It’s a public safety issue.”
Residents voiced common zoning concerns, including that the tower would be detrimental to nearby residents’ health, decrease property values and that the proposed structure was too tall.
In response, Brown cited the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which limits local zoning boards from denying cell tower requests based on health concerns. He also cited a recent study by the American Cancer Society that “shows no causal connection between wireless communication facilities and any increased cancer risk in the United States,” according to batesvillehearldtribune.com.
Responding to the criticism of decreasing property values, Brown cited data that showed no connection between decreasing home values and proximity to cell towers, specifically in the northern Kentucky and southern Indiana areas.
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