PASCO COUNTY — For more than 38 years, Cathy Vance has enjoyed her rural, quiet Quail Hollow neighborhood.
“This community, most of the people are older. Have been here for years. Retired,” said Vance.
But now she says she’s worried her community near Wesley Chapel is going to be ruined by a cell phone tower on this plot of land near her house.
“Why should we have to look at that? We live in a community that’s country, so to smack a cell tower right here where everybody is going to have to look at it every day, to me, it’s ludicrous,” said Vance.
Pasco County officials said Verizon Wireless wants to put up the 155-foot tower on this private property.
The County recommended the board approve the request with conditions.
But the people in this neighborhood said they don’t understand why it needs to be so close to their homes when their hundreds of available acres.
“The main attraction was the natural beauty of the neighborhood. There’s not a lot like this in Florida, especially nowadays. We loved it out here. We thought we found this nice little hidden gem and then all of a sudden to find out they are going to put this monstrosity right in our front yard. It’s disheartening,” said John Ellwood.
Last Spring, parents of students at Starkey K-8 banded together to fight plans for a cell phone tower next to the school.
The county commission decided to put it someplace else.
In that case, the big concern from parents was health issues from radiation.
Experts said there is no strong evidence that cell phone towers lead to health issues, but most also agree more research is needed.
People from Quail Hollow have been talking to commissioners hoping they’ll find a compromise.
Many will be at Tuesday’s meeting, where the board may vote on the issue.
“There are better places to put it than where we all have to look at it every day,” said Vance.
