Bath residents rally against proposed cell tower
The plans for the proposed cell
tower include an 8-by-12-foot-flag at the top and would
look like a typical flag pole with internal antennas
that would be lit from below at night. The tower in
Bath would look similar to this photo of a T-Mobile
tower in Highland Heights Park. Photo
courtesy of Bath Township
By Anne Dennée
BATH — A group of Bath residents is imploring restaurant owner Ken Stewart to reconsider his intention to allow T-Mobile to construct a 130-foot cell phone tower on his land.
The proposed tower would be located on the property of Ken Stewart’s Lodge restaurant at 1911 N. Cleveland-Massillon Road.
About 16 Bath residents attended a meeting called by Bath Township officials March 21 to inform residents and other interested parties about the proposed tower. Township Administrator William Snow opened the meeting by saying the township strongly opposes cell towers in general.
However, Snow said, since this
one would be located in a business district, the township
“really has no power” to stop it. According
to Snow, Ohio law allows construction of cell phone
towers in commercial areas
without the approval of local governments or their zoning
boards.
The only approval the tower needs
before it can be constructed is from the Summit County
Department of Building Standards. As of presstime, a
permit for the tower had not been submitted or approved.
It also is not known whether Stewart’s contract
with T-Mobile has been finalized.
Snow has been in contact with
T-Mobile, which provided copies of the draft plans for
the tower as well as photos of a similar tower T-Mobile
erected in Highland Heights Park, east of Cleveland.
Snow displayed the plans and photographs at the meeting.
The plans depict a 130-foot-tall
tower with an eight-foot- by 12-foot-flag at the top.
It would look like a typical flag pole, although much
taller, since it would be a single, gray pole with internal
antennas that would be
lit from below at night. The tower would be located
south of the restaurant behind the parking lot and would
be enclosed with a wood fence.
Snow said both Ken Stewart and
T-Mobile representatives were invited to the meeting
but declined to attend.
Several calls seeking comment
from Stewart were not returned by presstime.
In a letter to Stewart, residents
cited potential health hazards and aesthetic concerns,
such as the location of the tower along a designated
Scenic Byway and within the Heritage Corridor of Bath.
The letter called the tower a “visual intrusion”
and the placement of a flag on top “offensive
and inappropriate,” asserting that a cell phone
tower is “not a flag pole.”
The letter was signed by Kirk
Shively, Nancy Diller- Shively,
Mark Wyant, Pete Shepker, Holly Mineard, Tim Franklin,
Jeff Andrew and Paula Dubaniewicz.
Mineard said the letter, which
also was distributed to the media, local businesses
and several housing developments in Bath, is generating
some “buzz.” She said Diller-Shively also
was mailing a letter to all township residents.
Diller-Shively, one of the Bath
residents who attended the meeting, said she had looked
into health problems believed to be caused by transmissions
from cell phone towers and was very concerned about
the potential risks. She noted that the technology is
so new the possible health issues are not fully known.
Several residents decried the
placement of the tower in what they consider to be the
center of the township.
Maryellen Burnham said “it’s
a quality-of-life issue,” adding that the tower
would detract from the
rural character of Bath, which is “the whole crux
of why we live here.”
A T-Mobile 130-foot cell-phone tower is proposed to be constructed
on the property of Ken Stewart’s Lodge restaurant,
1911 N. Cleveland-Massillon Road. The tower would be located
south of the restaurant behind the parking lot. Photo:
Ken Crisafi
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