Community Meeting Monday, Sept. 30, on First Application for Small Cell Tower in City Right-of-Way:
For Utility Pole at 902 Merrimac Drive (south of intersection of Carroll Avenue and University Boulevard)
Come Learn & Share Your Concerns with City Staff and Crown Castle Representative.
This is the first of 11 small cell towers Crown Castle plans for Takoma Park in the next two years! (See list below.)
Time: Monday, Sept. 30th, at 7:30 p.m.
Place: Takoma Park Community Center, 7500 Maple Avenue
The City has received the first application for a small cell tower that falls under Takoma Park’s new Ordinance for such towers in City rights-of-way. Crown Castle, a big supplier of infrastructure for telecom carriers, wants to place an antenna for T-Mobile on a Pepco pole in Ward 6, at 902 Merrimac, between Carroll and Lockney, a block south of the intersection of Carroll and University. The pole is ~ 85 feet from residents’ homes! Our Ordinance requires the Director of Public Works to hold a Community Meeting “to provide the public with information about the proposed installation, answer questions, receive information, and respond to concerns.”
Afterwards, the Director decides whether to approve an application — and federal guidelines pressure the City to decide in a hurry. Since this is the first tower application ever under our Ordinance, our input Monday will help City officials develop the most effective review process for the future. Let’s take advantage of this opportunity and respond with robust participation!
Please come also to support our first Takoma Park residents to face one of these small cell towers so near their homes. The pole that would hold the cell antenna is ~ 85′ from the closest residents’ homes!
You can read Crown Castle’s application, its report on how it plans to comply with federal radiation guidelines, etc., by scrolling to the bottom of this page on the City’s website: https://takomaparkmd.gov/initiatives/project-directory/small-cell-antennas-in-the-citys-rights-of-way/ Come and share your questions and concerns about potential impacts on health, safety, and equity posed by the location of this proposed small cell tower so near homes in Ward 6.
And See Crown Castle’s Two-Year Plan for Placing 10 Other Small Cell Towers in Our City’s Rights-of-Way:
The plan is on pages 7-9 in Crown Castle’s main Application Form, which is one of the files posted at the bottom of the link above. The addresses in Takoma Park (and two just outside the City but on Crown Castle’s list) are:
7059 Eastern Ave.
8349 Flower Ave.
800 Kennebec Ave.
8200 Brighton Ave.
8209 Flower Ave.
700 Devonshire Ave.
508 Lincoln Ave.
6902 New Hampshire Ave.
6347 New Hampshire Ave.
Anacostia Tributary Trail System (near New Hampshire Avenue)
[And 8411 Piney Branch Road, in nearby Silver Spring]
[And 628 Sheridan Street, NE, just off Eastern, in nearby DC]
(Here’s recent news from the Environmental Health Trust related to radio frequency emissions from small cell towers: https://ehtrust.org/federal-court-overturns-fcc-order-which-bypassed-environmental-review-for-5g-small-cell-wireless/ )
Thank you — we hope to see you Monday night. And please share this news with others.
— Community Vision for Takoma
Community Vision for Takoma
Visit us at cvtakomajunction.com
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Community Vision for Takoma is a volunteer citizens group dedicated to an inclusive, just, and compassionate community. We invite you to join us in protecting and building upon our community’s progressive legacy. We believe that Takoma Park can be a model for other communities as we protect our natural environment, support right-sized development, and protect affordable housing, living-wage jobs, diversity, access to the arts, and thriving small, independent businesses. We welcome your ideas and participation. Please contact us at tjcommunityvision@gmail.com.