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Cell Tower on Golf Course Denied
• City Commissioners Respect Wishes of Residents
Thursday,
December 10, 2009
After a presentation by cell phone provider T-Mobile followed by a lengthy, heated debate among Margate city officials and residents at Wednesday's city commission meeting, T-Mobile's request to place a cell tower disguised as a flagpole on Margate’s Oriole Golf Course was denied.
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Due to intense competition among cell phone providers and legislation at the federal level favoring the placement of cell towers in densely populated communities across South Florida, companies such as T-Mobile and others have become very aggressive in applying to cities for conditional use permits to place towers in conspicuous places on both public and private land.
Although modern technology has enabled cell towers to blend into landscape by disguising them as trees, flagpoles, church steeples, crosses and other familiar objects, some Margate residents would rather see unobstructed clear blue sky, while others expressed concerns over the possible health hazards associated with exposure to radiofrequency (RF) and low levels of microwave radiation emitted by cell towers.
“I’m 88 years old and have been happy my whole life,” said one Margate resident. “I’m not about to live with radiation now. I’ll just sell my condo and move.”
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), studies examining the effects of RF and microwave cell tower emissions on health remain uncertain.
“Studies have shown that environmental levels of RF energy routinely encountered by the general public are typically far below levels necessary to produce significant heating and increased body temperature. However, there may be situations, particularly in workplace environments near high-powered RF sources, where the recommended limits for safe exposure of human beings to RF energy could be exceeded. Some studies have also examined the possibility of a link between RF exposure and cancer. Results to date have been inconclusive,” states the FCC website addressing Radio Frequency Safety.
Margate City Attorney, Eugene Steinfeld, said the city had no standing to deny T-Mobile their request, because federal laws closely guard a cell provider’s right to achieve maximum coverage in areas where signals may be weak.
However, according to a coverage map T-mobile presented to residents and city officials Wednesday night, there are no weak spots in Margate. All the weak spots are in Coral Springs.
“You’re in the wrong city,” said Commissioner, Pam Donovan. “It looks like you need to go talk to Coral Springs.”
Margate Resident, Le Peerman, suggested that the city revisit a past request by T-Mobile to place a cell tower in Centennial Park as a means of bringing more money into the city, since cell companies pay to lease the land where cell towers are placed.
After public discussion was exhausted, and the city's cell tower consultant and city attorney were no longer welcome by the commission to speak, Donovan made a motion to deny T-Mobile's request to place a cell tower on the Oriole Golf Course. Commissioner David McLean seconded the motion.
Margate Mayor, Arthur Bross was certain T-Mobile would sue the city for denying their request.
“Why do you think they didn’t take us to court when we turned down their request to erect a cell tower in Centennial Park?” said Margate resident, Robert Fenton, “Because they don’t want the bad publicity that comes along with suing potential customers.”
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