ALERT: Nancy Floreen Wants To Permit Cell Towers Within 30 Feet of Your Home

Mont. Co. Cell Tower

County Council President Nancy Floreen wants to put a cell tower in your front yard.  She also wants to eliminate your opportunity to give public comment on a proposed cell tower in your front yard.  

TODAY, Nancy Floreen is introducing a change to current zoning that would allow a cell tower to be placed within 30 feet of your home, and her zoning change would eliminate your ability to give public comment on such a plan.

As some Montgomery County residents have already learned, small cell towers (DAS antenna) are the hottest new thing in cell tower construction.  The cell towers go right in your front yard.  The image to the left shows a small cell tower already installed in front of a Montgomery County home.  

Below is a letter from one Montgomery County resident to the Montgomery County Council requesting that Ms. Floreen's proposed zoning change be rejected.  

To:  Honorable Members of the Montgomery County Council,

Please vote AGAINST ZTA 16-05. It would create adverse visual impacts and diminish property values. It furthermore would unfairly and unwisely curtail affected residents’ access to due process.

The size limitations upon cell towers offered in the ZTA are illusory.  Section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act overrides County zoning law. Once the County permits their installation, the Spectrum Act authorizes cell sites to be expanded. In public rights-of-ways cell sites can increase in height by an additional 10 feet; those not in public rights-of-ways can increase in height by an additional 20 feet. In both circumstances the Act allows additions to the widths or protrusions of up to 6 feet, and it allows additions of cabinets or cabinet sizes. In other words, the ZTA’s size limits are mere starting points.

The introductory explanation provided for this ZTA discusses the need for poles for small cells in public rights-of-ways where utility lines have been buried. Although I cannot imagine any acceptable explanation, no explanation is furnished as to why this ZTA also proposes to reduce the setback from single-family homes for cell sites on existing structures (Section 3.5.14) from 60 feet to the dangerously low setback of only 30 feet.

Access to the Conditional Use processes should remain available to affected residents whose homes and neighborhoods become threatened by prospective cell site installations.  Please foresee the problems that ZTA 10-05 would create and vote NO.

Sincerely,

Sue Present

 ~~~~~~

As a reminder, here is what residents of the City of Gaithersburg think about the City's proposal to put small cell towers in their front yards.