UPDATE The County Council of Montgomery County, MD, is considering a bill to add more cell towers to accommodate 5G. The siting measure authored by Council President Ike Leggett would allow easier small cell siting in places like Bethesda and Silver Spring.
The issue is key, because Amazon is considering placing a second headquarters in the county. A T-Mobile representative told attendees at a hearing Tuesday night, Amazon is checking service maps for the region. “They want to know that the counties, the folks that are looking to host the second headquarters, have eliminated to the extent that they can, the impediments to wireless deployment,” said T-Mobile representative Edward Donohue, reported Bethesda Beat.
Business owners believe expanding wireless service is essential in urban areas, said Ginanne Italiano, CEO of the Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce. Customers rely on data on their phones to find shops and restaurants, and many employers communicate with their employees using cell phones, she said.
But a number of residents who showed up at the hearing aren’t persuaded. Leggett’s bill would allow small cell nodes to be located on existing utility poles in mixed-use areas without a public hearing, in some cases, according to the account.
North Potomac resident Dawn Baron said her neighborhood is slated to get dozens of small cells. “These 5G towers would emit radiation into our yards, our homes and our bodies 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” she said, reported Bethesda Beat. She said the towers would also lower property values.
Susannah Goodman, representing the Somerset Town Council, objected that the bill would reduce required tower setbacks from 60 to 20 feet in residential areas. And Gaithersburg mother Lisa Cline, asked council members to add buffer zones around schools and daycare centers. Donna Freshwater, also of of North Potomac, said the wireless industry hasn’t produced scientific evidence supporting 5G network safety.
Federal law restricts the county from regulating wireless infrastructure based on health and safety concerns, according to Council President Hans Riemer. A council committee is tentatively slated to take up the bill May 3.
April 9, 2018
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