Saugus residents voice opposition to cell tower

SAUGUS – More than 50 Saugus residents packed into the meeting room at the public library for Thursday night’s Appeals Board meeting to voice opposition to a proposed cell phone tower at the Little League field next to the Veterans School on Hurd Avenue.T-Mobile won a bid to construct a cell phone tower in place of one of the light posts currently at the field on the third base line. The new tower would sit at 95 feet as opposed to the 60-foot height of the light posts. A 1,400 square foot equipment compound would also be built off site in the woods behind the batting cage along with a gravel access road.The lease for the tower would generate $36,000 a year for the town, with the potential for two other carriers to lease space on the tower.Many residents were dismayed, as they had no idea that T-Mobile was planning to construct a tower at the field until they read about it in the Daily Item.”I’m very concerned because my first knowledge of this came from reading the Lynn Item on Monday,” said William Palmerini, a fifth-grade teacher at the Veterans School. “No one in my school knows anything about this. The PTO has no knowledge of this. We need to get the word out to people.”Hurd Avenue resident Mark Rafferty also said he had no knowledge of the plans, despite the fact that Board of Appeals Chair Catherine A. Galenius said 300 residents were sent a copy of the meeting agenda.”I am very concerned that it’s gotten to this point and we just heard about this,” said Rafferty. “I also have a nephew that attends the Veterans Memorial School. His mother knew nothing about it. It seems it would only be appropriate to notify every parent at the school. Given the fact that this is a tower that is going to emit high-frequency radio waves? these children will be in school exposed to that.”As a teacher who spends eight hours a day at the school, Palmerini said it would be “inappropriate” to expose students to any potentially harmful effects from the tower.”I don’t live in the area, but I work in the school with over 600 children that would be exposed to whatever radiation is coming from that tower,” said Palmerini. “There are so many studies that indicate that the radiation from these towers is cancer-causing. We are putting a tower within feet of these children. We’re concerned for the children and the children are our lives.”Donna Vella, who lives behind the field on Zamora Street, also expressed concern about radiation levels around the tower, especially since her property sits 50 feet from the site.”My husband is a four-time cancer survivor,” said Vella. “I don’t want a tower there. Four times, I don’t want to go a fifth round.”Property value was another issue for residents and Vella brought up potential damage to wetlands in the area as well as the potential for trees to come down.”I purchased (my home) because the land back there was unbuildable,” said Vella. “I purchased it because it was very secluded. Now you’re going to build something there and you’re going to take all the trees in my backyard out. If I want to resell my house, I lose a lot of property value.”T-Mobile Zoning Manager Jackie Slaga was on hand to present plans to the board and said that any radio waves given off by the proposed tower would be well below Federal Communications Commission guidelines.”The FCC commissioned numerous studies from numerous sources and all of them came back saying? they’re safe,” said Slaga. “What I can tell you is even if you had all the carriers currently operating in this market on one site, it’s less than 10 percent of the what the FCC has deemed allowable in terms of human exposure. It’s a fraction of what’s allowable. It’s very safe.”Slaga said she will bring a health expert with her to the next Appeals Board meeting to assuage any fears residents may have for radiation levels.”There are some people that you won’t convince obviously,” said Slaga. “But once you present expert testimony with expert documentation? a reasonable person wil