T‑Mobile Tries Again

The cell phone array, completely enclosed in the church steeple, is completely safe. It provides income badly needed by an historic church. It looks fine. Property values will be unaffected.

Or … Who really wants to live next to a nine-antennae array? And the science is not definitive over whether radio frequency emanations cause cancer.

Those contending positions were passionately argued at the latest monthly meeting of the Quinnipiac East Management Team (QEMT), which drew 20 neighbors and presenters to St. James Church at 62 Grand Ave.

In the run-up to a scheduled March 20 appearance before the City Plan Commission, attorney Jesse Langer and project manager Denise Sabo presented the T‑Mobile plan to put the array of nine antennas and a cooling system all within the steeple of the historic Pilgrim Congregational Church. Pilgring is right across the street, at 65 Grand Ave., from Tuesday evening’s management team meeting location.

T‑Mobile has spent six years seeking to place the equipment for a 4‑G network to provide what they assert is badly needed augmented cell coverage in the Fair Haven Heights area.

First attempts included building a cell tower on public land in Fairmont Park back in 2013. The city was to have been reimbursed $2,200 a month for the lease arrangement. Outcry by Friends of Fairmont Park and local alders put the kibosh on that plan.

Because the company tries to balance the choice of a location with ​“visual responsibility,” Langer said, plans shifted from proposing erection of a tower or tree-like construction to an array within or atop a building.

A nearby nursing home was one possibility. But then about two years ago T‑Mobile found the Pilgrim Church and began to devise plans to place the antennas encased within the 120-foot tall steeple.

In January 2018 City Plan rejected the plan. The commission cited insufficient documentation about the structural strength of the church’s old boards to bear the weight of the system, noise that might emerge from the cooling unit or condenser, and the absence of a thumbs up from the Historic District Commission.

At Tuesday night’s management team meeting, Langer was back with a preview of the new application to be presented later this month. He had in hand approval by the Historic District Commission relating to the replacement of the louvers in the steeple, from wood to plastic.

He encountered familiar resistance, including from his main nemesis, local zoning attorney Marjorie Shansky, whose house is adjacent to the church. The sense of the management team attendees was that they did not want the array, enclosed or not, in the immediate neighborhood.

After 40 minutes of debate, local attorney and activist Patricia Kane moved that a sense of the body vote be taken to oppose the plan. The opposition recommendation passed unanimously.

A Grilling Transcript

Here’s some of the back-and-forth between the parties that ensued before the vote:

Langer: T‑Mobile endeavors to find a location visually responsible … that provides coverage.

Shanksky: Who checks the frequency and how?

Sabo: There’s monthly maintenance, and notification if there’s an alarm, a technician comes out.

Shansky: Is the alarm audible?

Sabo: No, it’s internal.

Shansky: If it’s an alarm, shouldn’t it be audible?

Local activist Christ Ozyck: Will it be 3‑G or 4‑G?

Sabo: This is 4‑G, 700 megahertz.

Kane: Any concern about the science and health?

Langer: The FCC [Federal Communications Commission] has promulgated regulations that every wireless provider must meet. The FCC has exclusive jurisdiction over health effects. Their studies have been verified, and we can provide [copies].

Sabo: The power density at street level is very low.

Shanksy: Do they [technicians] wear protective gear?

Sabo: I don’t know.

Neighbor Artie Natalino: What’s the church being paid?

Langer: I can’t tell you that. I don’t represent the church. I represent T‑Mobile.

Shansky: Will T‑Mobile buy my house?

Langer: We don’t believe property values will be detrimentally affected

Ozyck: I’ve had two kidney transplants, and I see the antennae from my house. It makes cancer grow quicker, and it allows viruses to cross the blood/brain barrier. I feel I’m being pushed up against it. Those beams will be coming at me 24/7. What do I do? Move?

Sabo: The antennae are not aimed at your house.

Langer: We’ll provide information at the hearing.

Natalino: What’s the church getting?

Langer; That’s for the church to say.

Natalino: We’re not getting the right answers.

Ozyck: How many here use T‑Mobile? How many would switch?

Langer: That’s unfair.

Shansky: Will T‑Mobile enter into a community benefits agreement?

Langer: We’ve got a 106-page marketing study by an appraiser [that shows property values do no diminish].

Kane; Is T‑Mobile against a community benefits agreement?

Langer: I’ll ask them.

Technology Is Fast

Ozyck said that he definitely will be in attendance at the March 20 City Plan hearing.

“This is going from 3‑G to 4‑G. That’s a 100 percent increase. They say, ​‘Safe, safe, safe,’ and then it turns out carcinogenic. That’s what happened with pressure-treated wood. Look at Roundup. Science is slow; technology is fast,” he said.

Ozyck said on March 20 he will be bringing some studies he’s gathered showing that in Europe, for example, the jury is still out on the safety of radio frequency exposure.