NORTH ANDOVER — More than 100 neighbors in the Elm Street area are hoping the Trinitarian Congregational Church sees the light and backs out of plans to place 10 cell phone antennas in a place of worship that sits smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
Neighbors are angry that the church is in negotiations with two cell phone companies — T-Mobile and Metro PCS — despite their vocal objections.
The group created a petition and has even taken the protest to their lawns, posting eye-catching yellow signs that read: "No towers near our homes: Protect your neighborhood and preserve our district."
"I'm just disappointed in this church," said neighbor Liz Fennessy. "I live across the street. Until now, I've loved looking at it. ... It's a beautiful church, nice steeple. ... But now it's just disheartening."
The Trinitarian Congregational Church proposed a Nextel cell tower back in 2000, but nixed the idea when neighbors expressed concerns over radiation emitted from antennas and the possible health effects. People also argued that neighborhoods with towers experience declining property values.
Neighbors voice the same concerns today.
"No one knows for sure the long-term effects of cell towers. It will take years to see what the fallout will be, if any," said Lauretta Wentworth of Pleasant Street.
"They bring up the argument people have microwaves and cell phones, but that's by choice," she added. "This is being forced on us. ... We'll be exposed 24-7."
Church Pastor Vicki Keene did not return calls for comment last week.
Metro PCS went before the Planning Board last month with its antenna proposal.
Bill McQuade, who represented Metro PCS, told board members that the antennas will be concealed in the church's historic picturesque steeple, a landmark since 1865.
"We've done many churches in adjacent communities," McQuade said. "Even if you did have a trained eye, you would not be able to tell they were there."
Franz Pierre, a Metro PCS Engineer, said the antennas will eliminate coverage gaps around the Route 125 corridor. Pierre said the company also looked at a current tower at the Stevens Estate and a smokestack at a nearby mill, but the spaces were not available.
The Elm Street area is a neighborhood full of single-family homes and more than 50 children. Many attend the Trinitarian Congregational Church's preschool.
The idea of radio-frequency emissions beaming from a property where their kids play is sickening, these neighbors say.
"I have four children. Two graduated from Century Preschool, and I have a young one who was going to go there," Eric Asvestas of Water Street said last month. "If this goes through, the whole neighborhood is going to move ... We're going to try to move and we'll be screwed."
Under the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, however, the Planning Board cannot take health effects into consideration when rendering their decision on the antennas. They have to stick to issues like property values.
Neighbors say the church is obviously doing this for the money.
Churches, with their steeples and bell towers, are first-class candidates for wireless carriers. And in a struggling economy, cash-strapped churches are looking at any way to get by.
This is not the first church in town to propose, or install, a cell tower.
First Calvary Baptist Church on Massachusetts Avenue, which sits by the Atkinson School, installed an antenna on its property in 2007, much to neighbors' chagrin.
A gray area in the town's wireless bylaw also has residents up in arms.
While the bylaw calls for cell towers to be set back 600 feet from any homes or schools, it also states that if an antenna is proposed to be mounted on a "pre-existent structure," only the setback provisions of the zoning district apply — 50 feet in a residential area.
Town officials contend the church is a pre-existing structure. Neighbors say that is not what the bylaw meant.
"I'm disappointed this is being overlooked," Fennessy said. "It's a legal issue."
Planning Board Chairman John Simons said he will look into the Stevens Estate as a possible alternative, seeing if the town would go for another cellular structure on the property. A flag pole that holds antennas there is currently full.
"We'll talk to the town, see if there's an appetite to expand," Simons said.
The Planning Board will hold a hearing Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Town Hall on the T-Mobile proposal. The Metro PCS proposal was continued until a Jan. 20 hearing while the town's engineer gathers information.
"I'm really appalled at what's happened. This really is going to alienate the church," Cindy Allen of Elm Street said last month, calling it a possible case of "the almighty buck over almighty God."
ÔÇæÔÇæÔÇæ
Join the discussion. To comment on stories and see what others are saying, log on to eagletribune.com.
