Protect the natural beauty of our world...fight for it...

[rsadmin]

I need everyone to draft a short email and send it to this address: hopkinsbg@montgomerycountyva.gov by 4:00PM today. In this email I need you to oppose a cell tower location and design that goes against everything natural and scenic in Montgomery County Virginia. Blind copy your email to me: luke@localpaddler.com and I will include a printed version of your letter in the presentation against the tower contractor who is "selling this" at a county board meeting.

Here is an example of the letter that I wrote. Yours can be much shorter and just a couple sentences. Please take a moment and do this. It will change the life of my family, these tower are continuing being built around childeren and school will no regard to the health risks when there is a better way to transmit cell signals that would just cost cell companies more money and would not be at that price of the health of the public. You do not have to live in Montgomery County VA, you just have to believe in the value of natural and scenic areas and that value should be a priority.

My name is Luke Hopkins and I am a Montgomery County resident. I oppose this cell tower location. I do not oppose cell towers period, just this location, tower design, and size. This location is a poor location on these basic facts:
-The tower site location is in a low area on the maxwell property. Being in a low area it will require a higher tower, which goes against the residents wishes and diminishes the natural aesthetic value of the area.
-The tower site location on the GB zoning part of the property is for convenience of the process because it would not require rezoning of another part of the property from the R-2 to the RR rural residential.
-The tower location is in an area that was designated to be a commercial buffer for one business, not a area to build more commercial. The tower location goes against the intended use of the land. This tower should not be place in a buffer zone.
-One of the major goals of this tower it to give “in building coverage in Blacksburg”, if this is the goal then placing the antennas on a building in Blacksburg makes the most sense.
-A cell tower can be out of sight, and out of mind. This tower is not. At 199 feet tall it will be 3 times the height of the surrounding trees. I want to protect the scenic value of the area by having towers that are smaller, blend in, look like trees, and this will make them out of site out of mind. Smaller tower would require more towers but more towers where they all blend is better than fewer towers that are extremely tall and unsightly. A 199 foot tall tower degrades the scenic value of the area we choose to live in and when times are tough that might be all we have.
-The Transamerican Bike route is the longest bike route in the United States and goes from Yorktown Virginia all the way to Austoria Oregon. This bike route uses natural, scenic, and historical roads. The proposed site location for the 199 foot tower will be 45 feet from Harding RD, which is part of the Transamerican bike route. Proposing to move the transamerican bike route out of Montgomery county is one solution, or we could have the cell tower in a location that is out of site out of mind. This means having a smaller tower, in a more optimal location, and blends into the surrounding area by being disguised as a tree.
-The 199 foot tower location is also within 35 feet of a distribution power line that carries high speed Internet and cable TV. These utilities are known to be within the fall zone of this tower. American Electric Power stated that this is an unnecessarily high risk location for such a large structure and the close by power lines and that the National Electric Safety Code should be consulted for preexisting safety code requirements for such a large structure so close to distribution power lines. There are power lines on three sides of this location. The solution is to not have the tower built near power lines that residents rely on.
-Unsightly cell towers have been constructed in a large part of Montgomery county as well as neighboring counties and really all over the country. We need to have towers that blend in to the natural surroundings. Please take this information into consideration and join the residents of the county and opposed this location and tower design requirements. There are better locations and tower designs that full fill the goals of AT&T and values of the residents of the area. I moved to this area for the natural beauty and we can keep the natural beauty by cracking down on cell tower sizes, designs, and poor performing locations.

-Luke Hopkins

Please send your letter to this address: hopkinsbg@montgomerycountyva.gov by 4:00PM today and blind copy me at: luke@localpaddler.com