The Caribou Planning Board at a regular meeting held on Oct. 6, considered the pertinence of a moratorium on broadcast tower installations. The concern stems from a pending application for a cell phone tower to be installed off of Paris Snow Drive near the Hilltop Elementary School. The Planning Board has started site design review of a prior application that is now being amended. A number of concerned area residents have expressed their concerns with the proximity of the proposed tower with their residential properties, as well as the school.
According to City Manager Steven Buck, Caribou’s existing site design review criteria addresses tower installations only from a structural perspective as far as setback requirement are concerned. Caribou’s code does not address the concerns being raised pertaining to proper setbacks to lessen electromagnetic radiation exposure linked to broadcast towers. There are numerous active ordinance examples to examine that do account for these concerns and the planning board supports such an examination prior to proceeding with any future site design reviews for broadcast tower installations. Planning board members voted 6-0 in favor of requesting the city council consider placing a six-month (180 days) moratorium on broadcast towers pending their consideration and development of a new ordinance addressing further setback requirement, if any.
At the Oct 12 regular city council meeting, several individuals, who reside in the Paris Snow Drive/Hilltop Elementary School neighborhoods, addressed the counselors with their concerns regarding the electromagnetic radiation exposure.
Paris Snow Drive homeowner Mark McCrossin stated, “I want to speak with you about something that will have an effect on everyone in our community. In fact the issue that concerns us is becoming a worldwide complaint of thousands of groups protesting against cell-based towers placed near schools and residential areas. We have come to the city council asking for help with this problem that has blind-sided us. The proposed tower would be located behind our houses and next to the school. We are concerned over the high electromagnetic radiation. This is a health emergency — children absorb these rays faster/easier than adults.”
In his request to address the council prior to the meeting McCrossin provided a list of electromagnetic dangers, which were presented to the council members. Some of these effects included the following.
• The accumulative effects of multiple sources of electromagnetic radiation are still not yet know but scientific evidence is increasingly pointing to be dangerous to health.
• There are reports from scientists and academic scholars that cell towers can be extremely hazardous to your health and the health of animals. Multiple health effects include cancer, leukemia, headaches, exhaustion, cell damage, nausea, depression, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
• Those living within a 50 to 300-meter radius are in the high radiation zone and are more prone to the ill effects from electromagnetic radiation.
• Children are more likely to be far more vulnerable to the effects of mass radiation because their skulls and bodies are not yet fully formed. Studies have shown that children absorb more radiation than adult and radiation can penetrate the skull of an adult at 25 percent; a 10-year-old at 50 percent and a five-year-old at 75 percent.
• There is a risk to those who carry pacemakers, cardiovascular defibrillators and in pulse generators. Researchers have found an occupational hazard with EMF exposure; one is twice as likely to die from prostate cancer and elevations in brain cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
• Regulations are mainly based on thermal effects and non-thermal effects are several times more harmful to humans. The U.S. standards are based on thermal measurements only. In other words, what this could mean is that the body’s organs have to cook before radiation levels are considered unsafe.
• Many insurance companies are beginning to refuse to cover health effects from cell phone towers
“We not saying we don’t want cell towers installed, we just don’t want them in our neighborhood,” said McCrossin, that is no place for a 120-foot antenna. We are begging you for help.”
“We currently have two people in our community that would be affected by a cell tower in our neighborhood, both recently had surgery to implant pacemakers.
Cuppy Johndro, an X-ray technician added, “This is a major mistake to have these towers installed in a residential area, so close to a school and young children. Find another place, Hilltop is no place for these towers.”
The council members unanimously voted to direct the city manager to work with legal counsel to draft a moratorium on the placement of broadcast tower installation for consideration of actions. A public hearing date of Nov. 14 was scheduled to consider further public input and the enactment of the proposed moratorium. If the council supports the proposed moratorium with a majority vote this would become effective immediately if adopted under the criteria of an emergency ordinance.
