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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPOUDRE HIGH SCHOOL, WIRELESS TELECOM. EQUIP. (NEXTEL) - PDP/FDP - 58-98 - REPORTS - CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONThere are 15 families living around Poudre High School who are vehemently opposed to the newly installed lights. They have formed a group called Protect Your Quality of Life. My husband and I, on behalf of this group, have filed an intent to sue the Poudre School District through the law firm of Berkner and Berkner. Since the existing poles and lights will now be subject to a court decision, I feel it would be unwise to extend a permit for the Nextel pole, as the structures erected to justify it could be removed by the courts. Essentially, the School District Administration wants to have it both ways. They want to use the entire project for justification of the Nextel component, but they only want City review of the Nextel pole, after the rest is erected, EVEN THOUGH THE NEXTEL POLE IS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE ENTIRE PROJECT. They don't want to go through required City Comment and Review procedures for the entire project, nor do they feel they have to. Because the School District Administration has immunity, and can erect whatever structures are needed to take care of its OWN needs, they have grown to disdain public opinion about any projects they choose to undertake. Now they are using their clout, and evidently considerable discretionary funds, and extending with largesse these same benefits to the likes of Nextel and Fort Collins Youth Baseball. Never mind that the funds are taken from those whose opinion they disdain. Never mind that these are private entities who legally do not have the same immunity. The High School baseball players; coaches, and Youth baseball were quickly contacted and sold on the baseball field lighting project to rally support for it. But athletic considerations were in reality a distant third, after Nextel's and Poudre R-1's communications equipment needs, in planning this project. Now they're beating the athletic drum because of its emotional pull. The coaches and players alike are being used as pawns to make the neighbors of this project look like Scrooges who want to take away this goodie which fell into their laps. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. If you have any questions please call me at any time. Yours Truly, Arla C. Meyer H. 224-2156 cc: Poudre R-1 School Board members cc: Mark Berkner, Berkner and Berkner To: Ted Shepard, Senior Planner, City of Fort Collins P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 NOV 20WCO From: Arla C. Meyer 219 South Sunset St. Fort Collins, CO 80521 Re: Comment Baseball field lighting project at Poudre High School Including 6th pole which supports Nextel Communication equipment Dear Ted, Thank you for discussing the City's regulations with me regarding stand-alone poles for private communications companies' equipment. Based on our discussion I now understand more fully the thought process that went behind the baseball lighting project at Poudre High. As Mr. Ken Forrest said at our first meeting with him in August, and again at a Poudre R-1 School Board Meeting in September, the lights were an afterthought. What, then, was the first thought? Simply, to accomodate Nextel Communications. For Poudre R-l's own communication needs, only one pole was needed. As an aside, I'm not sure why they couldn't have mounted the pole on the highest point of the existing school building, as has been done at other High Schools. But in any case, if they did need to erect a free-standing 100' pole to hold the dish that is now installed there, a single pole would have done the trick. And they could have installed it in a discreet spot, instead of directly in someone's back yard. So why did they go to the trouble and expense ($260,000) of putting up SIX 100' poles, with stadium -style lighting atop, and loudspeakers, too? Simply put: to create the illusion of a stucture or project already in place. In other words, to accomodate Nextel. Nextel could not put up their own stand-alone pole due to City regulations. And if Nextel simply attached to the single pole needed for School District equipment, it might cause that whole pole to be disallowed, because it would then be subject to City review, and it would be a stand- alone pole. So, unfortunately, the City's regulations have inadvertantly created this monster. Why the School District Administration is so eager to accomodate Nextel, to the point of running roughshod over the neighbors' --and taxpayers'-- wishes, is an open question.