Verizon Wireless plans to locate more than 12 antennas on an existing 130-foot cell tower owned by Goosetown Net Services and the residents ten miles east of Woodstock, NY, are not pleased, reported Hudson Valley One. Residents spoke up at a recent Saugerties planning board meeting, citing health studies showing damage to people living near the towers, specifically linked to radiation emissions.
Planning board consultant Dan Shuster noted that an FCC ruling excluded questions of public safety from the board’s determination. But residents pointed out that additional health effects research has been done since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 took place.
Another resident questioned the need for the additional tower. Reading from Verizon’s analysis, resident Robin Pendergrast said the description for a tower “concerns a lot of ifs and maybes — vague language, which scares me.” Pendergrast also cited the criteria for a special-use permit: “compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood and to assure the long term benefit to the town.” Residents also cited quality of life and negative impact to the area wildlife as objections, since the health concerns were not being considered.
Engineer Henry Parra noted that one area tower is receiving the maximum traffic it can handle, actually receiving more calls than it could transmit at times. This demonstrates the need for another tower.
The board was deferring its decision until last night’s meeting. Prior to that, the board planned to contract with an independent engineer to review Verizon’s plans.
July 19, 2017
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