San Jose
– A Gilroy family threatened to sue Tuesday after the Santa
Clara County Board of Supervisors took the rare step of overturning
a planning commission decision and approved a cell phone tower
extension near residential property just east of town.
San Jose – A Gilroy family threatened to sue Tuesday after the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors took the rare step of overturning a planning commission decision and approved a cell phone tower extension near residential property just east of town.
“I don’t have a lot of money, but I will sue the county,” Steve Britton said Tuesday. “They shoved the tower down our throats 10 years ago and they shoved this down our throats today.”
Three months ago, Britton and his family helped defeat a proposal by a subsidiary of Cingular to extend a 35-foot tower on Furlong Avenue to 75 feet. Britton and his wife Jill have both contracted cancer in recent years and blame their deteriorating health on radiation from the tower.
Federal law prohibits local agencies from rejecting tower proposals for health reasons, but in March the five-member planning commission unanimously rejected the proposal because the high tower wouldn’t fit the character of the neighborhood, which has no structures taller than a telephone pole.
But Tuesday, the supervisors reversed that decision with very little comment and approved a compromise proposal for the company to install a 55-foot tower on the site.
Supervisor Don Gage said it didn’t make sense to reject the bid when there’s already a tower in place.
“For me,” Gage said, “the tower is already there. There are a lot of phone poles in the area. The compromise of 55 feet works for me. This is not going to have much of an impact.”
After the meeting, Britton said he felt betrayed by Gage, whom he accused of being more concerned with business interests than the health and property values of his constituents.
“I feel seriously betrayed by Don Gage,” Britton said. “I spoke to him personally about this. I feel he set this [compromise] up purposely this way. He did it so he could get this passed.”
Gage said that he never promised Britton he would oppose the tower.
“I wouldn’t have promised him that,” he said. “The tower’s already there and it’s not like we’re going to take it out. He shouldn’t use that word, ‘betrayed.'”
Britton said he will sue to be compensated for damage he believes the new tower will have on his property’s value. He said he’s considering moving to protect his family’s health.
“That’s the toughest decision of all,” Britton said. “We don’t want to move but we feel like we have no choice now.”
The Brittons have lived on Furlong for 12 years. The neighborhood is zoned for agriculture and has been subdivided into residential plots. The flora there is several stories shorter than the proposed tower, which will improve service for AT&T Wireless and Cingular customers in the Route 152 corridor.
Britton, 45, said he was diagnosed with cancer just three months after he passed a physical and has been given a 50 percent chance of surviving. His wife, Jill, 44, has since developed a tumor in her eye. Britton said his 10-year-old son has developed migraines.
Were it a mile or two east or south, the tower near the Brittons’ home would be illegal. Both Gilroy and San Benito counties have ordinances regulating microwave towers that emit radiation. In Gilroy, towers must be in commercial and industrial areas. San Benito County proscribes towers within 500 feet of homes or 1,500 feet of schools. Gilroy’s ordinance requires existing towers to be in compliance within five years.
The county has no such ordinance, though it will attempt to craft one in the fall, based on recommendations from planning office staff and the public. That process will begin in September. Gage said the board didn’t table the Furlong Avenue proposal until then because the tower already exists.
