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Hundreds Signal Opinions On Cell Phone Tower

News Channel 8 photo by JOHN WINTERROWD

This rendering shows the proposed cell phone tower that would be erected on the Coleman Middle School campus.

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK

jpilarczyk@tampatrib.com

Published: January 7, 2009

CULBREATH HEIGHTS - Yard signs opposing construction of a cellphone tower at Coleman Middle School greeted hundreds of people who came to the South Tampa campus Wednesday evening to discuss the matter.

Many people wore orange wrist bands or T-shirts proclaiming, "No Tower."

The gathering in the school's cafeteria culminated weeks of door-knocking and sign-posting. Parents collected about 1,000 signatures from people who fear a tower might pose health risks for children and others on campus. Last week some opponents flew to Seattle to meet with a scientist on the issue.

By the time Principal Michael Hoskinson took the microphone to address Wednesday's meeting, the mood was tense.

"It's my responsibility to keep an open mind," Hoskinson said. "My job is to look at the opportunity, the good, the bad and the ugly."

In Hillsborough County, school principals have authority to decide if a cell tower is appropriate for their campus. Eleven schools have them and more are planned.

Hoskinson said he hopes to make a decision Thursday or Friday, based on thoughts of school district officials as well as Coleman Middle parents, staffers and neighbors.

The towers are lucrative. Cellphone companies pay the school district thousands of dollars in shared leasing fees to erect towers on campuses. Individual schools get most of that money. The towers also ensure or improve cellphone service in an area, including for emergency 911 calls.

Hoskinson said he has received telephone calls from people who support the tower proposal, but they often feel pressured not to express their point of view.

Several people at Wednesday's meeting spoke in favor of a tower, including parent Jenna Venero.

"I wish I could ask the people who are bombarding the school drop-off lines with posters and fliers: 'Would you give up your cell phones?'" said Venero, whose has an eighth-grader at Coleman. "Unless you're willing to give them up, these towers are going to keep going up."

Opponents have been more outspoken. They say the towers are unsightly and might decrease area property values. But their main concern is people's health: a lack of solid evidence that long-term exposure to radio frequency emissions from antennas on cell towers is safe.

They say the students' well-being is more important than money – especially at Coleman, which has an active and financially sound PTSA. If money would stop the tower proposal, several parents said at the meeting, they would write checks for a couple of thousand dollars on the spot. If the tower is approved, many say they will stop making any donations.

"We're trying not to sell out our children," said Lisa Williams.

Collier Enterprises II of Tampa wants to build the 100-foot tower. The structure could accommodate up to four cell service carriers with T-Mobile as the anchor lease holder, said company President Stacy Frank.

Collier would pay for construction and management, and evenly split rental profits with the school district. At about $11,250 per carrier annually, that's roughly $450,000 for the school district during the 10-year term of the lease, with Coleman keeping about 80 percent of the district's take.

"There is a definite need here and now," said Jim Porter, speaking on behalf of Collier at Wednesday's meeting. "It's a project that is good for the school and good for the community."

Frank has said the tower would be placed on athletic fields next to Coleman and would include extra lighting for the fields, which Hoskinson requested. The tower's base would be surrounded by a minimum 25-foot by 25-foot enclosure.

The plan includes a masonry wall and landscaping, Frank said. The project would be about 120 feet from the sidewalk on the north side of Estrella Street.

Residents of the Culbreath Heights neighborhood, which includes the Coleman Middle campus, collectively have voted against the tower. The Sunset Park Area Homeowners Association also opposes it.

"We are appalled that they want to put it next to a public park," said Jay Lenny, president of the Culbreath Heights Civic Association, which has raised $4,000 for swimming pool improvements and planted palm trees around the running track. "We are the closest neighbors and the whole thing has been forced on us."

Demand for cell phone service is driving the need for another tower, Frank said. If the Coleman Middle turns down the proposal, a tower likely would be placed somewhere along Henderson Boulevard.

Marie Valenti, principal at Chiaramonte Elementary School, said there has been a cellphone tower at the Gandy area campus since 2005.

"I think it's the best thing that has happened to us," she said.

Valenti, who has been at the school for 19 years, said she remembers struggles to raise money to cover the school's outdoor court and playground, and teachers' requests that were put on hold for lack of funding.

When the district asked if she wanted a cellphone tower, she said yes. There was no opposition from parents or neighbors, she said, and she trusted district school officials wouldn't advocate something that potentially could harm students.

"Now my teachers want something, boom, they get it," Valenti said.

An environmental study commissioned by the school district on the release of radio emissions by such towers was completed during the recent holiday break. It showed no increase in radio frequency emissions at the base of cellphone towers compared with sites in neighborhoods with no power lines or cell towers.

Those opposed say they would rather err on the side of caution.

"If you asked the school board or Stacy Frank to guarantee your children won't suffer any health effects … they can't do it," said Mark Williams, a parent of two daughters at Mabry Elementary. "If something were to go wrong, some malady were to affect your child, you'd have no recourse. This is your responsibility."

TOWER SITES

Eleven public schools in Hillsborough County lease property to cellphone companies for towers:

*Benito Middle School

*Chiaramonte Elementary School

*Gaither High School

*McKitrick Elementary School

*Middleton Elementary School

*Miles Elementary School

*Oak Park Elementary School

*Pride Elementary School

*Robles Elementary School

*Wimauma Elementary School

*Witter Elementary School

Two public schools have signed leases with cellphone companies for construction of towers:

*Leto High School

*Mintz Elementary School

Four schools, including Coleman Middle, are negotiating with cellphone companies.

Information provided by Collier Enterprises II

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 259-7661.

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