The lack of zoning laws in Campbell County have opened the doors, church doors to be specific, for the construction of a 255-foot tower in the small town of Elmdale, MI. The Elmdale Church of the Nazarene has engaged Tower Co 2013 LLC to build the structure, reports LowellsFirstLook.com.
Some town residents, like Paul Seese, are wary.
To be clear, this community is not against the church,” said Seese, whose house is two doors down from the church lot. “It’s the cell tower being directly in the center of 30 residences.”
Other residents expressed alarm, citing the story circulated last year about health issues blamed on a cell tower when attendees at a nearby school were diagnosed with cancer. Elmdale citizen, John McClure, apparently unaware that the Ripon scare was a result of tainted ground water, not RF tower emissions, stated that they were “not willing to be guinea pigs.”
The World Health Organization continues to contend that humans are not endangered by the proximity to cell towers, which pose no more risk than microwave ovens. Without health concerns or zoning restrictions to halt the construction of a tower, some residents have instead pointed to the negative visual impact on their bucolic community as a reason not to build one.
Seese is among residents who say they do not begrudge the church the funding it would receive from the tower’s construction. They do, however, object to the proposed location. The unincorporated town of Elmdale includes approximately 30 households and the church is in a more populous area. Neighbors have suggested that they would prefer another site. “There are options if they [the church board] would sit down and talk about it,” Seese said.
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