STOP Dellwood Community Cell Tower
Donation protected
Our story takes place on Dellwood Road, a quiet street located in Amherst, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. It is part of a cozy, safe, and modest neighborhood filled with hard-working people including everyone from young families to retirees. Our community enjoys two beautiful, family-friendly parks in the area along with the conveniences of suburban life; however, this life as we know it has been threatened by the imminent construction of a 90+ foot cell tower in our collective backyards.
Much to the disappointment of the neighborhood, the Town of Amherst’s Zoning Board of Appeals approved a proposal for a cell tower to be built by Upstate Cellular, a company working on behalf of Verizon Wireless. They made this decision without proper public notification at 1:00 AM in the morning after concerned residents had already left the meeting.
The approved 90+ foot cell tower is proposed to be built in a residentially-zoned wooded lot owned by Public Storage, which has a national program of leasing out its sites for cell towers (link: https://www.publicstorage.com/cell-tower-lease.aspx). This particular site is directly adjacent to a park and is part of the only significant wetlands in the area. It is filled with a plethora of flora and fauna including oak and maple trees, deer, turkeys, foxes and the like and is also an important migratory stop for birds.
Now that Zoning Board of Appeals has approved the construction of this tower, we no longer have any recourse at the town level to stop this unwelcomed project. Action must instead be taken at the state level, and we require an attorney to help us with this process. A community-wide group of concerned & impacted neighbors have pooled the funds needed to cover an initial $3,000 retainer for Richard J. Lippes, a top environmental law and land development attorney in Western New York. If Upstate Cellular and/or the Town of Amherst opposes our efforts to protect and preserve our neighborhood, Mr. Lippes projects his fees could go up to $15,000.
This cell tower will negatively impact the neighborhood in the following ways:
- Potential health hazards from exposure to Radiofrequency Radiation (RFR) that cellular towers & antennae emit 24 hours a day
- Permanent disruption of wetlands & displacement of wildlife
- Diminishment of the integrity of our neighborhood’s character due to the industrial intrusion of an unsightly 90+ foot cellular tower
- Noise and light pollution
If you live elsewhere in Amherst, our story affects you too. Verizon and other cellular companies are trying to put cell towers up on sensitive sites all over the town including other densely populated neighborhoods, parklands, churches, and land adjacent to schools. Irresponsibly and short-sidedly, the Amherst Town Board has no long-term plan in place to manage cell tower development. The town’s Zoning Board of Appeals has also proven unwilling to properly assess the applications sent to them by these major cellular companies. If we can show Amherst that residents will not simply accept these towers merely because an unelected Zoning Board approves them, they may think twice about approving cell towers in other neighborhoods across the town.
The process in motion is a classic ‘David vs Goliath’ story and our humble community is in need of YOUR help in order to fight off this giant!
We are grateful for your monetary gift in any denomination as no amount is too small. Please help us keep our local neighborhood and our town, GREEN, peaceful, and free of cell towers!
For updates and more information, please visit our website: https://stopdellwoodcelltower.com
In the event that the donations collected are more than the amount of the attorney’s fees, the remaining funds will be donated to another neighborhood in the same difficult situation.
Much to the disappointment of the neighborhood, the Town of Amherst’s Zoning Board of Appeals approved a proposal for a cell tower to be built by Upstate Cellular, a company working on behalf of Verizon Wireless. They made this decision without proper public notification at 1:00 AM in the morning after concerned residents had already left the meeting.
The approved 90+ foot cell tower is proposed to be built in a residentially-zoned wooded lot owned by Public Storage, which has a national program of leasing out its sites for cell towers (link: https://www.publicstorage.com/cell-tower-lease.aspx). This particular site is directly adjacent to a park and is part of the only significant wetlands in the area. It is filled with a plethora of flora and fauna including oak and maple trees, deer, turkeys, foxes and the like and is also an important migratory stop for birds.
Now that Zoning Board of Appeals has approved the construction of this tower, we no longer have any recourse at the town level to stop this unwelcomed project. Action must instead be taken at the state level, and we require an attorney to help us with this process. A community-wide group of concerned & impacted neighbors have pooled the funds needed to cover an initial $3,000 retainer for Richard J. Lippes, a top environmental law and land development attorney in Western New York. If Upstate Cellular and/or the Town of Amherst opposes our efforts to protect and preserve our neighborhood, Mr. Lippes projects his fees could go up to $15,000.
This cell tower will negatively impact the neighborhood in the following ways:
- Potential health hazards from exposure to Radiofrequency Radiation (RFR) that cellular towers & antennae emit 24 hours a day
- Permanent disruption of wetlands & displacement of wildlife
- Diminishment of the integrity of our neighborhood’s character due to the industrial intrusion of an unsightly 90+ foot cellular tower
- Noise and light pollution
If you live elsewhere in Amherst, our story affects you too. Verizon and other cellular companies are trying to put cell towers up on sensitive sites all over the town including other densely populated neighborhoods, parklands, churches, and land adjacent to schools. Irresponsibly and short-sidedly, the Amherst Town Board has no long-term plan in place to manage cell tower development. The town’s Zoning Board of Appeals has also proven unwilling to properly assess the applications sent to them by these major cellular companies. If we can show Amherst that residents will not simply accept these towers merely because an unelected Zoning Board approves them, they may think twice about approving cell towers in other neighborhoods across the town.
The process in motion is a classic ‘David vs Goliath’ story and our humble community is in need of YOUR help in order to fight off this giant!
We are grateful for your monetary gift in any denomination as no amount is too small. Please help us keep our local neighborhood and our town, GREEN, peaceful, and free of cell towers!
For updates and more information, please visit our website: https://stopdellwoodcelltower.com
In the event that the donations collected are more than the amount of the attorney’s fees, the remaining funds will be donated to another neighborhood in the same difficult situation.
Organizer
Jamie Smith
Organizer
Buffalo, NY
