Buffalo Township resident fights against approved Verizon tower
BUFFALO TWP — One resident came home very upset after the monthly board of supervisors meeting on Wednesday night, Dec. 13, after the board approved Verizon Wireless’s conditional use petition to build a 195-foot cell tower.
The plans call for the tower to be built on Monroe Road in Sarver, across the street from the home of Lynn Shearer.
Shortly after the board of supervisors approved Verizon’s permit, Shearer made his disgust known during the public comment period. He took issue with the fact that Verizon insisted on building their tower so close to his home despite having such a wide-open area in Buffalo Township to work with.
“This is basically on my front porch,” Shearer said. “It’s going to be 380 feet, at max, from my front porch. The plot of land where they’re going to put it is 84 acres. What’s this going to do to my property value? Some people I’ve talked to have actually said that they’re going to move if we do this.”
Shearer, a cancer survivor, also expressed concern about potential effects from the cell signals which may be broadcast from so close to his house if the tower is completed.
“My house will be bombarded by the Wi-Fi waves from that antenna,” Shearer said. “The American Cancer Society is the only one that will even make a stipulation about what the effects are of Wi-Fi from those antennas. They said that some people can be more sensitive.”
Shearer says he only found out about Verizon’s plans last December, when surveyors showed up in his neighborhood to perform a topographical study of his neighbor’s property.
He believes that the tower isn’t necessary at all, as his part of Buffalo Township already has adequate cell reception compared to other parts of the area.
“I have full bars of service,” Shearer said. “There’s no need for this tower here. People from Parker Road are complaining all the time about their service. The problem isn’t from east to west; the problem is north to south.”
A public hearing was held regarding the conditional use permit back on Oct. 11. This resulted in the board of supervisors voting to table the request for the time being.
Two months later, the board came out mostly satisfied with what Verizon had presented them. However, they attached a series of conditions to that approval. This included requiring Verizon to provide a geotechnical and structural analysis, and to pave an road to the tower to provide dust-free access.
After Shearer spoke, the township’s solicitor, Brian Farrington of the Charlton Law Firm, explained that federal regulations left the township effectively handcuffed.
“The guidelines that the FCC are issuing make it very difficult for municipalities to impose conditions,” Farrington said. “The FCC has said that wireless communications are a priority for the federal government and they want to be able to put them here without municipal restrictions.”
“I think it’s very irresponsible of the FCC to put this on us,” said Ron Zampogna, chairman of the board of supervisors.
During the meeting, while Farrington added that he empathized with Shearer’s position, he said that the township would have been in a highly vulnerable position if they had turned down the conditional use petition, as they most likely would have been dragged into a costly lawsuit by Verizon.
“If I would tell them no, then the township’s got to pay for me to go to court and litigate,” Farrington said. “I have an obligation as their solicitor to not put them in a situation where they’re defending something like this.”
None of this was enough to soothe Shearer, who is mulling his options over what to do next. He has already talked to the office of Pennsylvania state representative Marci Mustello, R-11th.
“They're saying it's not a state thing,” Shearer said. “It's really local and they can't control it.”
