Engineers for AT&T will begin looking next week at alternate sites for a 180-foot cellular telephone tower in Pleasant Ridge that has generated protests from residents.
Representatives from the city, AT&T, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) and residents met Saturday to discuss possibly relocating the tower.
The telecommunications monopole was built two weeks ago in the Pleasant Ridge business district on land owned by the NCJW. It is 6 feet from the property line of Bruce Siereveld, who lives in the 6100 block of Woodmont Avenue.
Mr. Siereveld said neither he nor any other Pleasant Ridge residents had knowledge that AT&T was putting the tower there until workers started building a foundation.
At a meeting last week at the Pleasant Ridge Library, more than 200 residents voiced objections to the tower being placed that close to a residential area. And they objected to AT&T building the tower without contacting them.
Residents started a petition drive to get the tower relocated. "This is a fight," said Mike Kull, president of the Pleasant Ridge Community Council. "The illusion is that there will be a meeting with residents before the towers are built. That is not happening. Our feelings are hurt because we have the right to say what goes where in our community."
Mr. Siereveld said the agreement to look for alternate sites is a step in the right direction.
"This is good news to me that an agreement has been reached to study relocating the tower," he said. "I think the community has let its feelings be known."
Kathleen Riehle, director of external affairs for AT&T in Ohio, said they agreed it would be best to give the community an opportunity to identify possible alternate sites in Pleasant Ridge.
"We are willing to incur the cost of moving the monopole if an acceptable site is identified," she said.
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TELEPHONE TOWER GETS STATIC May 26, 1997
