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| The arrows show where Superintendent Starr wants to add cell towers to red zone school playgrounds. |
Here's another one he wants to build. This is at least the 6th cell tower he has tried to put on a school playground and the 4th one on a Red Zone school playground.
What has the Board of Education said about these projects? Absolutely nothing.
The minutes from the November 2013 Loiderman Middle School PTA meeting show the PTA was fed some very bad information about cell towers on MCPS land, but whatever! (Loiderman MS would never "own" the cell tower. The money isn't distributed 50-50! MCPS takes 30%! The base of cell towers comes with a warning to stay away! And did anyone talk about where the Wheaton HS tower is now? Bet not.)
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From the Loiederman Middle School November 2013 PTA meeting minutes:
The meeting began with a presentation by Drew Montgomery from AT&T Cell Phone Services on
the proposed cell phone tower at Loiederman Middle School. Mr. Montgomery stated that the tower
would serve the immediate neighborhood within one square mile of Loiederman, which has a current
service “hole.”. He began his program with a PowerPoint presentation of current cell phone towers
on select MCPS campuses – some were high school football fields that took advantage of the towers
to place lights for night-time play. The tower would be placed in a 50 x 50 foot compound with
board-on-board fencing and a gated gravel access road. The 100 foot-high monopole would have a
12 x 12 foot equipment shelter, with space for up to two additional shelters for other cell phone
carriers. The tower would be owned by Loiederman and AT&T (and potentially two other carriers)
would pay monthly rent. The money, paid into the MCPS would be distributed, with 50% going
directly to Loiederman and 50% going to feeder schools (e.g. Weller Road and other area
elementary schools). Use of the money is unrestricted and therefore desirable to Loiederman. Mr.
Montgomery fielded questions from parents. When the issue of radiation was brought up, he stated
that radiation was higher by putting a cell phone to one’s ear than standing next to a tower. Other
concerns were the location of the gravel road. One parent proposed installing lights for the tennis
courts. The next step is for AT&T to hold a community meeting away from Loiederman, probably in
January. Ms. Sosik will continue to welcome feedback from the Loiederman community. The
anticipated installment will occur in 6-8 months.
"The tower would be owned by Loiderman and AT&T"? Is this some new strategy that cell tower owners have cooked up to try to get out of their property taxes, because the school is tax exempt? There's nothing in the BOE/school system cell tower policy about IT "owning" cell towers. The BOE should not take on that additional liability of a tower: collapse, fire, catastrophic strikes (from falling parts, ice, tools), hazmats, attractive nuisance, etc.
ReplyDeletePlease note: spelling is Loiederman
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