The Montgomery County Council: Don’t Buy Their Excuses on the ZTA 18:11

The Montgomery County Council:   Don’t Buy Their Excuses on the ZTA  18:11 

County Council Members know that citizens are overwhelmingly opposed to Zoning Text Amendment 18-11.    They know that putting cell phone towers on nearly every block is a dire threat to health, to pollinators, migratory birds, and to climate, because energy consumption will skyrocket.  

They don’t dare tell us “we don’t care”.  But they are under heavy pressure from the telecom industry and from County Executive Ike Leggett to pass this zoning text amendment (ZTA) no matter what.   So they pretend they have no choice – they say that they MUST pass it, because of federal preemption etc.  Citizens who call their offices are given various excuses as if they are set in stone.

Don’t buy their excuses!   

The bottom line – They must take personal responsibility for what they do.  And they should not take bad legal advice on faith from an extremely biased source – the County Executive.  

Excuse #1  Federal law will not allow us to reject cell tower applications because of harm to health and the environment.

Fact  Yes, it’s one of the most outrageous federal laws ever passed.   But it does NOT compel the County to pass this zoning text amendment.  They don’t have to justify keeping the zoning we already have.   In the legal record they can talk about aesthetics, public safety, property values, energy efficiency, and noise.     Further, we should not let this federal law muzzle us as citizens in raising our legitimate concerns about health etc.  It’s their job to protect us the best that they can, using whatever legal language they can. 

Excuse #2 Federal law preempts all local authority, so we can’t do anything.

Fact The FCC does preempt local governments from imposing a ban or moratorium on cell towers.   But again, it does not stop counties from imposing reasonable zoning requirements.   Nor does it stop us from requiring the industry to demonstrate a legitimate need for a cell tower to provide services.   Verizon executives have claimed they can transmit signals from 2000 feet.  Some local governments have much stricter zoning requirement than the 60 foot setback Montgomery County already has now.  (For example, Mill Valley and Petaluma in California).  Towns like Doylestown, Pennsylvania have successfully resisted telecom industry plans to blanket their community with cell towers.     

Excuse #3  We cannot require a 60 foot setback for wireless equipment on utility poles, because this discriminates against the wireless companies, when other industries are already allowed to put equipment on poles closer than 60 feet.

Fact  We checked this out with a telecommunications lawyer. This would be discriminatory only if the other services on the pole were “functionally equivalent”.   Electricity from PEPCO or services from wired broadband providers like Verizon or Comcast are NOT “functionally equivalent”.   At least two courts have already ruled in favor of communities on this issue.   The relevant law is the Federal Communications Act.  

Excuse #4   We have to give the telecom industry everything it wants, or the state or the feds will pass laws taking away any remaining powers we have.

Fact This is an argument for capitulating in advance, and it’s also not true.  The industry tried and failed to pass a state preemption bill in Maryland last year. There was too much local opposition.   At the time, the relevant Senate committee was chaired by Mac Middleton, who was keen to do the industry’s bidding.  This spring, Middleton was defeated in the Democratic primary.   The new chair is likely to be Sen. Brian Feldman, from Montgomery County, who will be more responsive to our concerns.   If the industry couldn’t get preemption before, they can’t do it now.   On the federal level, the actions of one county is not a big enough deal to drive federal policy. 

Council Members should vote No on the entire bill.  The only possible amendment which might really make a difference would be one which gives us a real 60 foot setback where the application has to go through a hearing process and demonstrate need - as in there is a significant service gap- before getting an exemption. The current 60 foot setback is a sham because it can easily be changed to 30. 

Unless the full set of residents amendments put forward by Sue Present are fully passed and protections are put in place for residents, the ZTA MUST BE STOPPED.