Friends and members of the Rutland community,

A cell tower has been approved for construction by the Rutland Zoning Board of Appeals. The tower is sited on private land next to Central Tree Middle School and Naquag Elementary School. This location is also adjacent to two neighborhoods. In nine months of public hearings, not one single resident spoke in favor of the proposed tower (with the exception of one relative of the applicant) yet 448 residents signed a hard copy petition in opposition to a tower in this location. Also, many spoke in opposition to the cell tower at the ZBA hearings. The voices of the residents were ignored in the ZBA's decision to approve the tower.

Concerned residents have filed to appeal the ZBA's decision. We are raising funds towards legal fees. Please donate to this important effort!

People will say that the science shows no harm associated with cell towers. Whether people who say this know it or not they are referring to a small minority of published scientific studies on the issue. In fact, over 90% of the 1,000+ peer-reviewed studies show grave issues of harm to health from wireless infrastructure and devices. There are ways to use these tools more safely but this tower siting is risky.

The closest structure to the tower will be the middle school building at approximately 530'. The elementary school building will be approximately 1000' off the tower with the distances to athletic fields at both schools being even less. These distances are far less than experts' minimum recommended setback of 1640' from cell towers to homes and schools (see this 2022 New Hampshire bill https://bills.nhliberty.org/bills/2022/HB1644). This bill was written by a commission of experts after many months of research, interviews and review of thousands of peer-reviewed scientific studies. It states in the first paragraph (1I.) that 'there is a significant public health risk associated with the cumulative effects of radio frequency radiation which is growing every day with the proliferation of cell tower transmitters'. Much more information and many scientific studies on the risk of the wireless radiation associated with cell towers can be found at www.ehtrust.org and www.ma4safetech.org.

Additionally, residents reported seeing the balloon that the developer floated at the tower site in such scenic town places as Demond Pond and Rutland Heights. Many residents also expressed their concern over the documented property devaluation caused by cell towers. These concerns were also dismissed by the ZBA.

Per the coverage maps provided by AT&T at the ZBA's public hearings, residents saw that this tower will provide spotty coverage to a small area of town, bringing the necessity and effectiveness of a tower in this location into question.

This tower is a community issue and will impact a disproportionate number of townspeople including every child and staff/faculty member at Naquag Elementary School and Central Tree Middle School. Please give in support of this effort towards the integrity of safe cell tower siting, safe zoning decisions and strong democratic processes!!

Update: We need to raise $3500 more to push this appeal. Please give.