Double Trouble! Please keep reading and scrolling. Deadline today for Big Island!
It's back! You may recall the illegal 65' fake pine tree tower on ag land in Haiku (Maui) erected during lockdown, AFTER the permit had expired.
Now is the time to take action!
Verizon is applying for an "after-the-fact" Special Use permit and the hearing is this Tuesday, September 22, 9:00am. Mark your calendar!
The Verizon tower, erected on agricultural land in early April on Kaupakalua Road near Herman's, was granted a County Special Use Permit in 2017.
The Permit expired February 28, 2020, and no extension was sought, yet the tower was erected in April.
This tower was built without a current Special Use permit, in violation of County code.
Sample Testimony Points
Please do not copy/paste all of these! Pick one or two. Use your own words.
1) Our county planning codes need to be honored. It's not OK for big corporations like Verizon to come in and run roughshod over our community.
2) In erecting this tower on agricultural land in our county without a proper Special Use Permit Verizon has flagrantly violated our laws. It is their responsibility to understand what they have agreed to in the permit they sought. It is not the fault of the Commission, as Verizon has publicly suggested. They have no
right to overburden our county officials and force them into a policing role. Planning Commission members are volunteers. We know you have a lot of weight on your shoulders and your time is precious. We thank you for your service.
3) Many residents are opposed to this tower. When the illegal tower was exposed to the pubic back in June, and a community call-to-action went out, so many people filed Requests for Service to report the infraction that it crashed the County website for about 20 hours. Residents have spoken loud and clear. We do not want this tower.
4) I drive the speed limit. I stop for red lights. I do not litter our beaches. I honor social distancing. We have an obligation to follow the rules and laws and if we don't, there are penalties. Yet corporations violate our laws with little to no consequences. This is a double standard. It happens far too often that permits are issued after the fact. To build first and get
permits later seems to be no problem. When we allow this to happen it sends a dangerous message: We encourage people to ignore our laws; to only abide by them if they get caught and are forced to abide. This is no way to enact the complex process of planning and ensure balanced and sustainable growth for Maui County.
5) In a community meeting on September 9, Verizon said they were made aware of their expired Special Use permit in May when they applied for an additional permit for a microwave dish on that tower. Yet we have on record that Planning had reached out to Verizon about their expired permit well info June but had received no response from them. Ignoring
our planning officials is not OK. Verizon has repeatedly acted in bad faith. We don't need to do business with corporations that act in bad faith.
6) In a community meeting on September 9, a Verizon spokeswoman announced that the tower permit hearing would be on September 21, which was not correct. Then later in the meeting she said it would be held on November 22, also not correct. And she ended by saying that tower permit meeting would start at 12 noon, which was also not correct. How can we trust a
company that gives out false and misleading information to our community? They do not act in good faith for the benefit of the community. They have their own interests in mind.
7) At the September 9 community meeting a Verizon hired expert repeatedly stated that the wireless radiation emitting from the illegal tower would be non-ionizing radiation, like the sun. This is disingenuous as the radiation emitted by cell towers is man-made, not natural. Cell tower radiation emissions are altered on numerous levels such as frequency, wavelength, modulation,
pulsation, and power. They are not at all like the sun.
8) At the September 9 community meeting a Verizon spokesman repeatedly stated that the illegal tower will not emit microwave radiation. This is disingenuous, as most high-frequency radio waves, such as those emitted by cell towers and antennas, are commonly referred to as microwaves. The microwave frequency range is understood to be 300 MHz - 300 GHz and cell
towers operate within that range.
9) If this illegal Verizon tower is granted an after-the-fact permit, soon AT&T and T-Mobile/Sprint and others will likely request permits to erect towers in that area or, to co-locate their antennas on that tower, turning it into a massive, huge, radiation-emitting ugly eye sore.
11) This tower will inflict adverse aesthetic impact. It's disguised to look like a pine tree but no one is fooled. It's too industrial for this area. It disturbs the view plane, the enjoyment of the surroundings, the simplicity and charm, the beauty, the pastoral surroundings, etc.)...
12) There is a very real danger of collapse, and the potential to cause harm (such as property damage, and personal injury or death) to anyone who might be unlucky enough to be near this tower if it fails.
13) Noise pollution is a factor. Excessive noise from cooling the ancillary equipment (up to 28 cubic feet) for each antenna would disturb the quiet enjoyment of our streets and surroundings in this neighborhood.
14) Cell towers have been known to catch fire. A quick search of YouTube will show multiple videos of cell tower fires.
15) Wireless technologies consume at least 10 times more power than wired technologies. To meet Hawaii's energy goals we need to be focusing on wired technology, fiber to the premises, not more wireless.
16) This is not a good use of agricultural land. In this time of food shortages, agricultural land needs to be used for its zoned purpose of growing food to feed people.
17) There are other alternative locations available that are less intrusive.
The county online system is called BlueJeans (their version of Zoom or Skype).
Log-in at 9:00am Tuesday, September 22, and register in the chat. Then testify when called on to do so. You will have 3 minutes! Prepare your comments, please!
Testimony will be taken when each item is discussed. This is the second item on the agenda.
Can phone in at: 1-888-748-9073 passcode: 696 111 670
Can email comments now. Please consider both online and written. Deadline for email: 12 noon, Monday, September 21: planning@mauicounty.gov.
A massive steel lattice telecom facility is proposed for South Kona (Big Island) to replace an existing tower. This is not a tower, it is much more than that!
The 260-foot tall behemoth "with related equipment" will occupy over 2000 square feet of agricultural land.
Here are some points you can choose from in your testimony. Please don't copy/paste the whole list. Pick one or two points and add your own words.
1) Steel lattice facilities are designed to house a large number of panel and/or microwave dish antennas. A huge industrial structure like this has no place in Kona and will greatly disturb the historical and pastoral surroundings.
3) This facility will inflict adverse aesthetic impact. The massive steel lattice structure is downright ugly! It's far too industrial for this area (and explain how it will disturb the view plane, the enjoyment of the surroundings, the simplicity and charm, the beauty, the visitors, etc.)...
4) There is a very real danger of collapse, and the potential to cause harm (such as property damage, and personal injury or death) to anyone who might be unlucky enough to be near this facility if it fails.
5) The Hawaii County Council passed a Resolution halting the deployment of 5G. All new facilities being deployed now are 5G potentiated. If it's not 5G when it's erected, it will be soon. Thus, the facility violates the will of the people as reflected by their elected officials in passing Resolution 678-20.
6) This huge facility is too close to public spaces with nearby shops, post office, and homes. People could be injured if the the structure fails and components (such as baseplates, flanges, joints, bolts or guy wires) are blown off by high winds.
7) Noise pollution is a factor. Excessive noise from cooling the ancillary equipment (up to 28 cubic feet) for each antenna would disturb the quiet enjoyment of our streets and sidewalks in this neighborhood.
8) A facility of this size in this neighborhood would create an access barrier to the homes and community of Americans with Electromagnetic Sensitivity (EMS), an environmentally-induced medical illness that can be caused by RF microwave radiation exposures. These Americans (estimated to be 25,000,000 Americans and growing) with Federally-recognized ADA disability rights, would be barred from accessing public spaces and could
be forced to move from their homes. https://wearetheevidence.org/electromagnetic-sensitivity/
9) There is not a significant gap in personal wireless service. Applicants are required to prove a significant gap in service and there is no such thing. Kona is saturated with cell coverage. This facility is proposed by a site developer, not by a wireless carrier. Site developers do not provide personal cellular service. If there were a gap in coverage the carriers themselves (Verizon,
AT&T, T-Mobile) would be making this proposal but they are not. Kona has adequate cell coverage. There is no need for more.
10) This facility is proposed by a site developer, not a telecommunications provider. Site Developers are notorious for installing unneeded and unnecessary cell facilities because they build them fast and cheap and make a lot of money collecting rent for the life of the facilities from the carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) whose many antennas they house. Site
developers do not have our best interests in mind.
11) This facility is proposed by a site developer, not a telecom provider. Site developers are notorious for tricking local authorities by providing false and misleading information in their applications. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=96&v=UtT6gVH584s Please demand hard data. Ask the
carriers themselves (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint) for their records of dropped calls in the proposed areas. They can produce this information with the click of a mouse. We need evidence of lack of coverage. Do not take the site developers word for it. Do not be tricked. We demand proof from the carriers themselves.
12) In this populated area of Kona there is not sufficient fall zone for a facility of this massive size. If the structure falls, which has happened, people could be seriously hurt or killed.
13) Cell facilities have been known to catch fire. A quick search of YouTube will show multiple videos of cell tower fires.
14) Wireless technologies consume at least 10 times more power than wired technologies. To meet Hawaii's energy goals we need to be focusing on wired technology, fiber to the premises, not more wireless.
15) This is not a good use of agricultural land. In this time of food shortages, agricultural land needs to be used for its zoned purpose of growing food to feed people.
16) There are other alternative locations available that are less intrusive.
Testify online! To join the Leeward Planning Commission meeting and testify online, you must contact Rachelle Ley TODAY by 4pm at Rachelle.Ley@hawaiicounty.gov or call 808-961-8125 and ask to register for WebEx.
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