Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Some Oppose Cell Site at Historic Cemetery

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 16:22:38 -0400

Some Oppose Cell Site at Historic Cemetery

Some citizens are opposing a plan to install a 115-foot cell phone tower at
the Glenwood Cemetery where Horatio Alger is buried. The Natick, Mass.
cemetery is interested in having the Verizon Wireless tower. The cemetery
could gain needed cash from lease payments from Verizon. The money would be
used to help maintain the cemetery. Also, wireless service for Natick-area
cell phone users would be improved. Some residents say the tower would
obstruct their views. Glenwood Cemetery is not on the state registry of
historic places, and there are no applications pending to include it. (Source:
Boston Globe)

======================================================================================================

Neighbors threaten to sue over cell tower

Verizon says health concerns are unfounded

By Benjamin Gedan, Globe Correspondent, 5/28/2003

ATICK -- A neighborhood group has threatened a lawsuit as part of a
''full-fledged'' campaign
against a proposed cellular phone tower in the Glenwood Cemetery.

The Glenwood Neighborhood Association, an
informal committee based in a rural, dead-end
street bordering the cemetery, has accused
Verizon Wireless of threatening the historic
nature of the burial ground.

The 20-acre cemetery, sandwiched between
protected land and a Massachusetts Audubon
Society reserve, houses the remains of author
Horatio Alger.

Local residents said the tower would also
endanger low-flying birds, lower property values,
and attract truck traffic to the narrow road,
where several families are raising young children.

The group's principal objection, however, is concern over the long-term
effects of exposure to radio
waves, said Meera J. Werther, a founding member.

''We really have not been able to get satisfactory reassurance based on
long-term studies,'' Werther said.
''We don't want our young children to be the guinea pigs.''

Natick's buildings department denied Verizon a construction permit yesterday,
a legally mandated step
before the company can seek an exclusion from zoning regulations from the
Zoning B oard of Appeals.

Verizon must also gain approval from Natick's Planning Board.

A Verizon official said the 115-foot steel tower would improve cellular phone
coverage in an area that
gets spotty service.

The company has dismissed health concerns, arguing that the tower would emit
low-strength radio
waves.

''Our power levels are minuscule compared to the signals put out by
televisions and microwaves,'' said
Charles Schwartz, a Verizon consultant. ''There are a lot of things you can
worry about, but this shouldn't
be one of them.''

The cemetery is privately owned and operated by the Glenwood Cemetery
Association, which would
receive all revenue from Verizon.

Its president, Robert Palmer, also discounted health concerns yesterday, and
called fears about
plummeting property values unfounded.

The residents have estimated a potential resale reduction of 10 to 20 percent,
but Palmer said the
proposed tower would be camouflaged and largely hidden by trees.

''It's really not that conspicuous,'' he said. ''You see the last 20 feet of
it and you can camouflage that with
stuff that looks like a tree.''

Sarkis Sarkisian, the town's director of community development, has also
defended the plan, which came
under immediate attack after Verizon used a crane and blue balloon on May 8 to
simulate the structure.

Of the cellphone towers in Natick, all but one is located on an existing
structure, including church
steeples, tall buildings, and a hospital roof.

But in rural South Natick, a free-standing tower on the cemetery's wooded
property is the only solution,
Sarkisian said.

''This is the only area in town where we don't have coverage,'' he said.
''It's set back, it's going to a
nonprofit group that could use this money, and it's going in an area that
needs coverage.''

Town Hall, however, is not united behind the plan.

The Open Space Committee, voted an official advisory board at the last Town
Meeting, is opposed to
the project. The focus on cellular phone coverage and concerns over the wooded
landscape ignore the
importance of preserving open space, said Martin Kessel, a committee member.

''This is a different concern,'' he said. ''That is a spot that can be enjoyed
by all people in town, whether
they're going to visit a grave or look for a peaceful location.''

The Glenwood neighborhood group, meanwhile, predicted widespread support for
its campaign. Plans
are underway to contact relatives of those interred on the neighboring
property, speak out at public
hearings, and threaten lawsuits to cancel the project, or obtain compensation
for possible economic
damage.

With the cemetery expanding and removing trees near the proposed tower site,
residents said large
sections of steel, and an array of antennae, would be exposed.

''These big towers belong in commercial districts,'' said Alison Gilkey, whose
home, which juts into a
grassy expanse off Glenwood Street, has a clear view of the cemetery. ''It's
an outrage.''

http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/148/metro/Neighbors_threaten_to_sue_over_cell_tower+.shtml

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