Cell tower unites voices

When people in The Plantation community learned of a plan to build a cellular tower that would loom over their backyards, they felt there was little they could do.

In January, by the time many learned of the proposal to put up a tower at neighboring Cannella Elementary School, renderings of what it would look like had been filed, and the public hearing was just a week away.

But a buzz was building in the community.

People who didn't normally take notice of neighborhood issues started speaking out. The same happened in the nearby Wildwood subdivision, where residents gathered in the street to discuss strategy.

"If it weren't for the neighbors making the effort to go around and get the word out, this would have slipped by most of us," Plantation resident Marie Guzman said.

When a South Tampa group experienced in fighting cell towers offered to help - even to help raise money - a movement was born.

Now, people in this Carrollwood community are hoping they can keep the 160-foot tower from going up.

"It's very unusual to get this many people at a meeting about a neighborhood issue," said John Calvert, the community association manager for Plantation. "It shows how concerned residents are that this tower would change our community."

Residents are concerned because the cell tower, built to resemble a flagpole, would sit on the back side of the school's campus on Nixon Road. The tower would border two neighborhoods and sit a few hundred feet from a dozen homes.

Residents say the community was designed with its utilities underground, and they don't want to have to look at a cell tower.

Plantation, a deed-restricted community built in the 1980s, has more than 1,800 homes but has never exercised its collective voice on issues as much as neighboring communities. Nearby Original Carrollwood and Carrollwood Village, for example, easily rallied hundreds of residents in the past year to modify speed humps in their neighborhoods.

Plantation residents, on the other hand, pay little attention to routine issues such as maintenance fees or changes in deed restrictions. Community board meetings usually only garner a handful of residents each month, Calvert said.

But the proposal to put a cell tower in the neighborhood got people's attention.

The issue of cell towers on school campuses is not new in Hillsborough County, where they have drawn protests from South Tampa to New Tampa. In the process, community groups have emerged to fight them and have become a guiding force for other neighborhoods.

After a technical issue delayed last month's zoning hearing on the Cannella tower, Plantation residents used the extra time to get organized.

The Plantation board hired an attorney to fight the proposal but also is relying on members of Parents Against Cell Towers in Schools, which became a force when Coleman Middle wanted to build a cell tower last year. Since successfully defeating that tower, members have targeted other towers on school campuses and the company trying to put them there, Collier Enterprises II.

PACTS contacted the Carrollwood residents to educate them about the dangers of cell towers, including reduced property values and health risks, and to show them how to organize opposition, said Bill Cook, a member of the group.

"We were lead to believe that there was really nothing we could do about it, but in educating ourselves, we found out we could make a difference, if we want to," Calvert said.

But whether individual neighborhoods want them or not, cellular towers aren't going away, said Stacy Franks, president of Collier Enterprises II.

"If it doesn't get built there, it will get built somewhere - not necessarily by my company - but the need for these towers is growing," she said. "So here's a chance for some of that money to go to the school."

The Cannella tower would accommodate as many as six carriers, netting about $350,000 for the school over the 10-year contract. Principal Sue Whitinger told residents the school needs the money.

"Our fundraising is way down because of the economy," she said. "We want to keep Cannella on the cutting edge and attractive to the community."

Opponents question how much money the tower would really bring the school, though the benefits are obvious at Mintz Elementary in Brandon. Principal Debbie Moltisanti was able to buy every teacher in her school a digital projector with cell tower money.

Plantation residents, though, don't think they should have to live with a cell tower just so the school can bring in extra money. Some offered to raise money for the school if the principal agreed to pull the cell tower proposal.

Robert Woock lives near where the cell tower would be built and doesn't want to see his view change.

"We had this great pond behind us with great natural foliage and wildlife, so we put this big picture window in, and unfortunately the cell tower is going to be right in the middle of the view," he said.

Woock is hoping his neighbors and other opponents will pack a zoning hearing on the project at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The county's zoning hearing master will hear the proposal and take comments from the public.

"You can only hope that we'll be heard and make a difference and get this tower defeated," he said.