Attorney Represents New Yorkers At Planning Board Meeting to Install Cell Towers Near Their Homes

By B.N. Frank

Nearly 40 residents in Mahopac, NY don’t want cell towers installed near their homes and they have hired a law firm to represent them. Homeland Towers insists on installing 2 of them there anyway.

From Tapinto.net:

Homeland filed site plan applications for towers at 36 Dixon Road and 254 Croton Falls Road nearly a year ago, and since then, residents who oppose the plans have been meeting and plotting their strategies to have the applications rejected.

However, the residents are up against the 1996 federal Telecommunications Act, which treats wireless carriers like a utility and doesn’t leave local municipalities much latitude when it comes to disapproving such site plan applications.

But Andrew Campanelli, an attorney for Merrick, N.Y.-based Campanelli & Associates, who represents the residents, said that the Telecommunications Act is not as difficult to overcome as wireless carriers would have one believe. He went before the Planning Board at the Sept. 11 public hearing to lay out his case against both proposed towers.

“It is not enough to simply get you (the Planning Board) to deny the application; it is of equal import to me that it is denied for a reason that does not run afoul of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996,” he said.

Campanelli argued three basic points: the aesthetic impact of the towers; the potential negative effect on property values; and the need of the towers.

Campanelli brought up a new issue, contending that with cell towers comes the risk of fire.

“The average person looks at a cell tower and the last thing on their minds is a fire. But almost like clockwork, at least once a month a cell tower in the United States catches fire,” he said. “There are multiple cases, but the most famous case was in Wellesley, Mass., where a monopole, not too unsimilar to the ones they want to put here, ignited in flames and laid over in a burning heap. This thing went up so fast that the firefighters had no chance to put it out.”

Over the years, many Americans have opposed cell towers being installed near their homes due to health risks from RadioFrequency (RF) Radiation exposure, reduced property value, and more.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is supposed to protect the public by regulating the Telecom Industry. They have a long history of protecting telecom companies instead. Their efforts to win the insane “Race for 5G” requires hundreds of thousands if not millions of 4G and 5G mall cells being installed near homes and everywhere else. Many communities and organizations oppose this densification of small cells. Some have filed lawsuits against the FCC because of it. New legislation has been introduced to return control over installation back to communities. Unfortunately in the meantime installation continues (see 1, 2, 3, 4) despite opposition and people and their pets getting sick where 5G has already been turned on (see 1, 2, 3, 4).

Activist Post reports regularly about American opposition to cell towers near homes, schools, etc. For more information, visit our archives and the following websites:

Image credit: Pixabay

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