Residents in Vista Lakes, Florida are fighting a 125-foot T-Mobile tower proposed behind a church and have started a change.org.petition to challenge the project, reported WFTV-TV. The petition claims the tower will be near quiet residential neighborhoods, schools, plus beautiful parks and wildlife and will ruin aesthetics.
Concerns are also around the potential for health risks from microwave radiation for adults and pets; the petition notes that in the past five years, 1,800 new scientific papers have been published to support these claims.
The devaluation of real estate, as much as 20 percent if a tower is present within 200-300 meters of a property, is also cited.
The petition calls out how other cities are pushing back against the FCC deployment of small cells, per WFTV. “Many cities have implemented strict telecommunication guidelines with a minimum 1,500 foot distance from schools and homes,” the petition notes in regards to small cells.
Discussions regarding the project are scheduled to continue at the next Municipal Planning Board meeting on December 17. According to WFTV, the city has said it expects to build hundreds of new towers and small cells beginning in 2020, to help telecoms bring 5G service to Orlando.
December 16, 2019
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