Neighbor Responds To Nextel Tower Lawsuit

[The following letter was submitted by Joe Pryor in response to a newspaper article. For more information on towers see tower issue cross-reference]

Dear Mr. Nelson,

I couldn't find Mr. Dauner's e-mail address, so I decided to respond to his article today about the Nextel suit by writing you; perhaps you will pass it on to him.

I am a landowner whose property is located next to the proposed Nextel tower site at 167th and Mission Road. I and my more than one hundred neighbors in the area are vehemently opposed to this particular site selection, because we feel the tower would lower our property values. I feel the Nextel suit is a device of intimidation for the Board of Commissioners of Johnson County, because some of the suit's claims are not valid. For example, two Nextel sites have been approved already in unincorporated Johnson County: one at Heritage Park which was approved by the Board of Commissioners, and another at 183rd and State Line, which was approved by the Aubry Township Zoning Board and the Board of County Commissioners. Therefore, Nextel cannot claim that it is being denied sites in favor of its competitors. However, Aubry Township Zoning Board decided to not grant approval to the site at 167th and Mission because this particular site impacted many more homes in close proximity than any other site approved previously in nonincorporated Johnson County. More than twenty homes were within 1000 feet of the site, and this includes homes in platted residential areas such as Orchard Hills,Cedar Ridge, and Country Meadows. In fact, to approve this particular site would set a definite precedent for the county in which a communications company could expect to be granted tower sites within the midst of preexistent residential areas with impunity. The Federal Communications Act of 1996 does not preclude local governing agencies from influencing the location of tower sites.

Nextel's allegation that the Johnson County Board of Commissioners has sat on its application for the conditional use permit at 167th and Mission also is fallacious: Today was the first regularly scheduled meeting of the commissioners at which the Aubry decision for denial could be considered, and in fact, the Board sent the application back to the Aubry Zoning Board for further consideration of some legal issues as well as further consideration of alternative sites in the township. In fact, this referral back to the Aubry Board was requested today at the meeting by Nextel itself through its representative, Lester Dean.

Those of us in the community are determined to resist the construction of the Nextel tower at the 167th and Mission site as far as the judicial process allows. In this regard, we submitted a detailed report(prepared by Elliot Kaplan and Jay Selanders) to the Johnson County Board of Commissioners today outlining our interpretation of the legal issues involved as well as an appraisor's report on the effect of tower construction on the property values of nearby homes. I would recommend you read this report as I feel it will be the basis of our legal challenge to the attempt of communications companies to construct towers within the midst of preexistent residential communities. In fact, I feel that the eventual outcome of any judicial decision down the road in regard to this particular tower site will be pivotal for the entire communication industry; therefore, I believe that any homeowner who is concerned about the possibility of having a tower in his back yard should also be very interested in the outcome of our struggle.

Joe Pryor
16775 Mission Road
Stilwell, Kansas
66085
897 4276
edxmd@swbell.net

Author's Note: The article was published in the Star yesterday [Thursday, May 1, 1997] by John Dauner. I wrote my response by e-mail to Mr. Dauner and forwarded a copy to you [NeighborhoodNet] as well as Annabeth Surbaugh. The report to which I alluded in my letter by Elliot Kaplan and Jay Selanders is very informative; all who are concerned about the issue should obtain a copy from Elliot for reference.


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