The installation of a 120-foot flagpole-style cellular telephone tower at Sappington Elementary School was rejected last week by the Lindbergh Board of Education.
Board members voted 5-1 July 17 to reject US Cellular’s proposal to install the cell tower in front of Sappington Elementary School. Voting to reject the proposal were President Mark Rudoff, Vice President Ken Fey, Secretary Vic Lenz, Treasurer Katie Wesselschmidt and board member David Peek.
Board member Bob Foerstel voted in favor of US Cellular’s proposal while board member Janine Fabick was absent.
Lindbergh officials had been approached by the cell-phone company about installing the cell tower in conjunction with a partial building replacement project at Sappington Elementary School. The cell tower would have been integrated into the layout and design of the new school entrance and would have generated about $1.2 million over a 30-year period.
Karl Guyer, executive director of planning and development, told board members that the district sought public input on the proposed cell tower through e-mails and an online survey. Of the roughly 100 responses received, more than 70 percent were opposed.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance Pat Lanane said, “… If you go back to our last tax-increase proposal, Proposition A, it failed. And one of the things that the community … the community was saying several things, but one of the things they were saying: Be sure you have investigated, looked at, thought about all the other possibilities out there of raising money that do not include a tax increase … There are a few things we’ve looked at. Some of them really don’t amount to a lot, but in this case, this is at least a significant amount of money and it does present an opportunity for additional revenue to the school district that does not rely upon our local taxpayers who do bear the burden for the vast majority of the revenue in the school district …”
Lenz asked Superintendent Jim Sandfort, “Having been through all of this, what would be your recommendation to the board administratively?”
Sandfort replied, “Oh, I’ve thought about that.”
Lenz interjected, “So have I.”
Sandfort said, “I have thought deeply about it and quite honestly while I would love to have the money, I think there are some things that probably you don’t want to step out and I would go back to the community and say: Yes, it’s a good way to raise a million dollars over 20 or 30 years, but the product that is there — if we had a back lot to put it on, I would tell you in a heartbeat let’s take a look at that … It’s tough for me to visualize a flagpole 120 feet high. I mean it’s just physically tough for me — it would be imposing, but it could also be overwhelming and so I think considering everything that’s been said, I’d love to have the district have that long-term money, but I’d rather hear from the board now …. We’re not a filling station, which tend to have a lot of those. We’re an educational institution, but that’s just my thinking.”
After observing cell towers similar to the one being proposed, Wesselschmidt said, “… They’re big and you do notice them and you do notice the flags … As I envision our new Sappington School, it’s just going to be so beautiful and the entrance there, I think it’s inappropriate and I hope that we go with the community that has expressed — that has taken the time to express their opinion. I would hope that we would vote with them and say: You know, you know, that’s not the right location.
“I personally think any place on our property is probably inappropriate for that … I think there are lots of spaces in the community that are more amenable to that. I wouldn’t put it in my back yard. I wouldn’t hesitate to see on the lot of a filling station or another commercial establishment that’s another profit-making center. But we’re not that. We’re the kids’ home for eight hours out of the day…,” she said.
Fey said that though the Sappington Elementary community may be comprised of 3,000 homes and roughly 100 people responded to the survey or by e-mail, the response was overwhelmingly against the cell tower.
“… I am not going to go against what the folks have turned in. I’m going to take their recommendation and if I vote tonight, it’ll be against the cell tower,” he said.
Lenz said he agreed with Sandfort’s comments “pretty much right down the line. I worry about that flagpole that close to the school. Also, the response was from a small group, but the response was pretty heavy and the one piece that just eats at me continually is the thought of is there something wrong? I don’t think from everything we’ve seen that the waves coming off a cell tower are going to hurt anybody, but I’m not about to take a chance on that, that close to school. I would have to go along with no, it’s not appropriate at the place. However, I also would think it would be well worth looking at to see do we want to put a 100-foot flagpole on the athletic field out here where it’s further away and might be more appropriate. I mean, are there other spots in the school district that would be appropriate for something like that? I would be very open to that kind of discussion. But I think as far as the proposal at Sappington, I’d have to say no, it’s not something we want to do at this point.”
Foerstel said, “I want to make sure that everybody knows that we didn’t just — we’re not just talking to be talking. We did some due diligence. Karl and part of his office had gotten lots of information here from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to note that the radio frequencies are safe. I can speak probably for the whole board. We are definitely concerned about the kids. We don’t want them to be in any danger whatsoever. So with due diligence … we did get enough information to make a good decision I believe for or against on the danger of radio frequencies and stuff like that. In fact, in this packet I believe even the (American) Cancer Society said it would be OK …”
He later added, “… I just want everyone to know we did do due diligence before we made a decision and I really appreciate all those people that gave us information and feedback back. Thank you very much.”
Peek said, “I’d just like to springboard on something you said about the information given to us. I’ve done some Internet searches on trying to understand this whole health-effect issue (and) went back and read the information that was provided to us. Most of it’s quite dated. Most of it is 1990s vintage. I had a very difficult time finding … anything that was dated ’06 or ’07 or ’05, for that matter.
“So I really had a hard time finding anything that could unequivocally say it was safe. So I’ve got a real problem with that I think, and the fact that we just don’t know I think is really the way — is the conclusion that I have is that I really just don’t know. So I’m uncomfortable from a future standpoint. Is it a right thing to do — have anywhere near where children will be?”
After further discussion, the board voted 5-1 to reject the proposal from US Cellular.