P68 Verizon wireless tower at Angeline Academy

52:43P sixty eight.

52:47Uh yeah, I'm willing to leave sixty seven on consent, but after we Vote consent through. I'd like to have a conversation. Uh About

52:58This scenario.

53:01Okay. All right.

53:03I do want to say for the record, because I'm not sure I said this, that P sixty seven comes to you with a recommendation of approval with conditions from the Planning and Development Department and the Planning Commission as included in your agenda packet. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Not sure I got to there.

53:16P sixty eight. P68 was advertised in the Tampa Bay Times September 6, 2023.

53:22P68 is PDD 24 C U01. It's conditional use. District School Board of Pasco County Vertex Development Verizon Wireless. It's for a 154 above ground level, close mount, monopole, wireless communications facility, and an MPUD to be located within the Angeline Academy of Innovation campus. you with a recommendation of approval with conditions from the Planning and Development Department and the Planning Commission.

53:49Okay. Uh is anyone here to speak to this item?

53:53We have

53:53one individual.

53:54We have one individual signed up online.

53:57Um speak against item or Yeah. So what do we we do?

54:03Yeah, well you you'd have to uh yeah, why don't why don't we pull pull sixty eight and

54:10sixty-eight and take uh take a motion and a second. I

54:13move to approve P sixty five, sixty si no way. The consent agenda with the exception of sixty eight. Yeah, those the consent agenda with the exception of sixty nine. Sixty-eight. Well sixty-nine is not a consent. It's

54:26not a consent item.

54:28The consent agenda with exception of P sixty eight. Okay.

54:33Second.

54:36District one, Commissioner Oakley. Aye. District two, Commissioner Weightman. District three, Commissioner Starkey. Aye. District four, Commissioner Bradford.

54:44District five Chairman Mariano.

54:46Motion pass four zero. Now we'll move back to uh sixty eight and take it.

54:56I would find out who it is on the web and and see what they're whether it's Can we find it out if they're

55:04against this item or

55:05not? So Robin Patel is signed up. Ms. Patel, um can you let us know if you are in opposition of this item?

55:13Yeah, so I'm in opposition.

55:16Okay. Go ahead.

55:19Okay, so good afternoon. My name is Robin Patel. I'm a resident of Lakes, [address removed]. Thank you for the opportunity to speak here about the cell phone power plan for Angeline Academy of Innovation. I would like to request that the cell phone tower be located farther away from the school building and away from student areas. My concern is mainly related to the potential health risks on children caused by increased exposure to radio frequencies or RF radiation from being near a cell phone tower for over six hours per day. School day

55:49for up to seven years at a grade six through twelve school. I'm particularly interested in this proposal because I have two children in the school district, one in elementary school and one currently at Angeline. I'm also interested because I'm a scientist. I have a PhD in biomedical sciences, and while my expertise is not in wireless communications, I have about 15 years experience doing research on human health, disease, and biological systems. So over the past few days I've learned the following information from the school district about the Plan Tower. The planned site is located three

56:19hundred and sixty feet or about one hundred. Well We're the best we can from the school. Would directly face the student classroom areas. It should be noted that Angelina is a very tall, four-story building with student classrooms on all levels. The upper floor is significantly closer to the antennas compared to ground level. It is not currently known what type many antennas will be placed on the tower, what type of signals they will transmit, or what the radiation pattern emitted from the tower will be. This is up to the cell phone

56:49carriers. The tower could house key equipment, five keys, boats, or other types of equipment. In other words, the strength and type of radiation that would be coming from this tower is not known. It is known that RF radiation can have biological effects and that radiation exposure is near the towers. Therefore, proper cell phone tower placement is necessary to limit possible health effects and liability. A review article from twenty twenty in the journal Environmental Research summarized current human and animal research and indicated

57:20that, and I quote, proximity to base stations correlates with the eastern. dizziness, depression, and other neurobehavioral symptoms, as well as increased cancer risk. These effects may be cumulative. In the current research, cell towers would be cautiously placed five hundred meters or about a third of a mile away from schools, end quote. Again, the angel mean power is set to be about 100 meters from student classrooms. Cell phone networks are a new technology and health effects may not be known for decades. The American Cancer

57:50Society states on their website, quote, most expert organizations agree that more research is needed to help clarify this, especially for any possible long-term effects. End quote. Cell phone towers are a part of life and coverage is needed in the Angeline area, I agree. But we need to be thoughtful about where towers are placed to achieve that coverage. Until we are sure that there are no negative health effects on children's growing bodies, we should not be placing cell phone towers near student areas. Instead, place towers along roadways in fields, woods, or other

58:20unpopulated areas. As a parent, scientist, and a concerned community member, I ask that you

58:29Her time's up. Well

58:31she she almost finished.

58:33Okay. Any discussion by the

58:35board? I'd I'd see if there's anybody in the audience that wishes.

58:46See a no one?

58:47Well I

58:48yeah. You want to speak this atom?

58:50I'm here for the applicant.

58:52Okay.

58:53So you have

58:53it.

58:56Maybe you can answer some of the questions we heard.

58:58Sure. Mary Solick, 121 South Orange Avenue, Suite 1500, Orlando, Florida. I'm here on behalf of Vertex Development. And were you sworn? Yes. Okay, thank you.

59:09Um, where's your L mouth? You've got it.

59:18Is that different than what's already up on the screen?

59:22No, it's not. I pulled it from the site plan. I just highlighted the distance between the corner of the building and the tower location on the school campus. It is three hundred and eighty-nine feet away. I understand the sincerity of Ms. Patel's comments, but we meet all of the citing requirements that are set forth in your code. And the Telecommunications Act has determined that the that local governments are preempted on the issue of the health effects of the towers. The FCC regulates

59:52that, and you're you're not allowed to approve or deny or regulate the placement of towers based on their health effects, no matter how sincere Ms. Patel's comments may be. FCC has just taken that away from you and they regulate it.

1:00:06Mm-hmm.

1:00:07Do you have any further questions for me?

1:00:10Anyone?

1:00:12Any questions?

1:00:13Well

1:00:14I just want to say something to the school district. And I see Chris is sitting back there.

1:00:21You know, we keep we keep hearing this and I think it's part of the five G scare that's out there that People say they didn't test enough. It just it would be a better for us if you would when you start laying out your school sites, if you plan for your cell tower site Like it could have been on the other side of that pond. Right.

1:00:46Leave a little paddle. Far away from the building. Yeah. You know, just plan just plan for the cell tower as well for the future. Please. But we're preempted from the health part. So there's a lot of things. So I

1:01:04I would need to

1:01:04approve.

1:01:05All right. I'll second. And a second. By roll call vote.

1:01:10District One, Commissioner Oakley. Aye. District two, Commissioner Weightman. District three, Commissioner Starkey. Aye. District four, Commissioner Bradford.

1:01:21Yeah. District five, Chairman Mariano.

1:01:25Okay, motion motion approved 3-0. Okay.

1:01:28Thank you.