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Parents Protesting Cell Tower

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

dlwhite@tampatrib.com

Published: January 28, 2009

VALRICO - Following the example of parents at Coleman Elementary School in South Tampa, concerned parents of students attending Cimino Elementary in Bloomingdale East are protesting the construction of a cellular phone tower on school property.

Parent Louise Brazo has launched a petition drive to persuade Cimino Principal Deborah Talley to reject a request to place a 100-foot flagpole-style cell tower on the school property at 4329 Culbreath Road.

Among Brazo's objections are the lack of definitive studies related to the health hazards of cell towers and possible diminished property values.

"If this tower goes up, I'm taking my daughter out of the school," Brazo said. "They might not know for years whether exposure to radio frequency emissions from towers are safe, and I'm not going to take the chance of exposing my child for six hours a day."

Parent Ray Alzamora shares Brazo's apprehensions.

"We can't get anyone to definitively say there is no health risk," he said. "There's just not enough information out there on the effects on the growth and development on children, and I'm not comfortable taking the chance."

Earlier this month, health concerns were among several arguments Coleman parents used to persuade their principal to turn down an offer by Collier Enterprises II of Tampa to build a cell tower on their school's campus.

Founded by attorney Stacy Frank, a former Hillsborough County phosphate mining zoning hearing master and the daughter of Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court Pat Frank, Collier Enterprises brokers deals between wireless carriers seeking cell towers and landowners.

In 2006, the Hillsborough County School District awarded Collier a contract to lease school properties to wireless carriers, beating out bidders such as the national wireless carrier Sprint.

School district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said the district has been leasing property to wireless carriers for telecommunications towers since 1997. Eleven cell towers have been erected on school sites and three more are under contract, including one at Mintz Elementary School in Brandon.

Under the Hillsborough County Land Use Development Code, cell towers are permitted in nearly all zoning districts and are not required to be reviewed by a zoning hearing master if they are 100 feet tall or less.

As of June 2008, there were 245 cell phone towers approved on private and public property in unincorporated Hillsborough County. County ordinance requires cell phone carriers to use existing cell towers, or to "co-locate," whenever possible. Up to five carriers can use a single tower.
Cobbe said the school district's existing cell tower leases generate $144,750 in revenue each year. McKitrick Elementary School in Lutz, the first school to have a tower erected, receives about $6,000 a year. Chiaramonte Elementary School on Himes Avenue in Tampa struck a $30,000-a-year deal when a tower was constructed on its property in 2005, Cobbe said.

Under school board policy that was adopted at the same time the school board awarded the cell tower contract to Collier, individual principals decide whether to permit cell towers on school property. Cobbe said schools that provide land for cell towers get 80 percent of the proceeds from the lease.

"With the economy the way it is, that money makes a big difference," Cobbe said.

Frank said her company represents the property owner, not the carrier, and finances construction and maintenance of the cell towers. Each tower costs about $200,000 to construct. Frank said her company only constructs the monopole style of cell towers because they can withstand winds of up to 120 mph. They successfully held up during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, she said.

Frank said the additional income cell tower leases generate has been a godsend to schools during these hard economic times, especially low-income schools that have no major PTA fundraisers. Belle Witter Elementary on 22nd Street in Tampa receives $24,000 a year for its tower. Frank also oversaw construction of towers at Robles Elementary in Tampa and Wimauma Elementary in South Shore.

But her critics, including Coleman parent Carrie Grimail, who has since formed a coalition called Families Against Cell Towers, say Frank is unfairly profiting from a county ordinance she helped draft.

"She was way undercapitalized to have been awarded this school district contract," Grimail said.

"Collier has a blanket agreement with the school district for the right to install a cell tower at virtually every school in the county," Alzamora said. "I suspect she is busy courting school principals across the county on a daily basis with the promise of easy money."

Frank took exception to the implication that she is doing anything unethical or illegal.

"That's very disturbing. What we're doing is a perfectly legal, safe and demanded service. It's totally above board. I feel good about creating this opportunity for schools," Frank said. "I could make more money doing this differently, but I've chosen this business model because it's a niche and it serves a public purpose."

She said the city of St. Petersburg recently asked her to bid to represent the city on its cell tower leases. Hillsborough County government and the city of Tampa currently negotiate their own leases.

About 25 parents attended a meeting at Cimino Elementary School Jan. 13 to discuss the proposed cell tower and how to spend the potential $30,000 a year the school may reap. Talley, who has no time limit for making her decision whether to approve the tower, said she would like to purchase Elmo Co. overhead projectors for the teachers and construct a cover for the play area to shield the students from the sun.

Alzamora said they are amenities the school can do without or acquire through PTA fundraisers, noting that the Cimino PTA raised $90,000 to build gazebos at the school.

"The money shouldn't be a problem. The PTA has raised it before," he said. "I'm all for the free market system, but a school should be in the business of educating our children, not trying to find ways to seek revenue. If the schools need money, we should be addressing it at the tax level."

Brazo said she finds it disconcerting that the school district would put the principals in the untenable position of making the decision about cell towers.

"I take issue with that," she said. "The school board ditched its statutory responsibility and passed the buck to the principals. I don't think the school board should put the burden on one person."

Grimail added that the parents' concerns about health and safety should not be dismissed.

"We're not lunatics," she said. "We're doctors, lawyers, moms and dads. We may not have all the information, but why not err on the side of caution?"
Cobbe said the school district didn't make its decision to put cell phone towers on school property lightly. She said the federal Center for Disease Control and the American Cancer Society has determined the towers do not represent a health risk.

Frank added that the radio frequencies have been in commercial use for more than 60 years.

"The only thing that's new are cell phones and the number of people using them," she said. An estimated 72 percent of Americans now have cell phones. "Over 68 percent of the emergency calls made in unincorporated Hillsborough County and 65 percent in the city of Tampa were made on wireless phones," Frank said.

Tower opponents, however, say recent studies suggest exposure to radiation from cell tower transmitters could cause brain cell and DNA damage and learning deficiencies and pose cancer risks.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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