Wake school board talks health, height of proposed cell tower near school

The builder of a proposed cell tower near a Wake school plans to reduce its height by 15 feet.

The Wake school district is proposing to lease some land near a North Raleigh elementary school to APC-EDGE in exchange for an estimated $1.5 million over the life of a 25-year lease. The lease would initially last 10 years, with options to renew for up to 25 total years.

APC-EDGE is a partnership between Raleigh-based APC Towers and New York-based Wireless EDGE Consultants. The board has been planning to vote on the agreement at its Oct. 20 meeting, though the agenda is not yet set for that meeting.

The Wake school board's facilities committee discussed the proposal with APC Towers representatives Tuesday, asking questions about the technology, revenue, health, and property values.

People who say they live near Brassfield Road Elementary have recently organized against it, citing concern for their property values and the potential health effects of radio frequency radiation, though research hasn’t concluded that the radiation causes cancer. Cell towers don't have enough energy to produce ionizing radiation, which is the type that can cause damage to cells and DNA, according to the American Cancer Society.

Cell towers can emit potentially harmful radiation if people are too close to them, such as within 10 to 30 feet of the antenna for a prolonged amount of time, APC Towers representatives said Tuesday.

"I think what the concern was that we were hearing from parents... [is] it's constant [exposure]," Board Member Cheryl Caulfield said.

APC Towers President and CEO Daniel C. Agresta III said the tower would be 180 feet tall, rather than the originally proposed 195 feet tall, and 400 feet away from the school. Either way, he said, it's too far away to cause health concerns and well within safety guidelines.

He said personal devices that people keep close to them, such as baby monitors, can emit more non-ionizing radiofrequency radiation, though still well below safety limits.

Agresta noted that cell towers are ubiquitous, with 12 within one mile of the school board's meeting room. Another tower is less than a mile away from the proposed Brassfield Road Elementary site.

"It's the world we live in," he said, comparing wireless service to a utility. "It's live, work, learn, play."

The school district already has a handful of cell towers on unused school land that's leased to wireless companies, dating back to the 1990s.

David Burnett, the district's assistant superintendent for facilities design  and construction, said the district hasn't fielded complaints or concerns about its existing cell towers.

They generate, collectively, a couple hundred thousand dollars annually in revenue, while the district says cell service is improved for the school and the area.

In the presentation given Tuesday, APC Towers notes that the property for the cell tower is surrounded by trees on three sides and that it would be willing to add vegetation on the fourth side, which is currently lined only by a wire fence.

The school is located in a forested part of North Raleigh near Falls Lake.

The company also plans to design the cell tower with faux tree features, a common practice among cell tower builders to help the towers, despite their height, aesthetically resemble the surrounding vegetation.

Many nearby homes would have little view of the tower or no direct view at all, the company notes.

School boards in other parts of the United States have prohibited cell towers on campuses in recent years, though many have, for decades, signed leases for dozens of towers.