LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Planning Commission members last week approved a request for permits from leaders of Nextel Partners, allowing them to build an unmanned telecommunications facility on private property in a residential neighborhood in Wailua Homesteads. Opponents immediately threatened to
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Planning Commission members last week approved a request for permits from leaders of Nextel Partners, allowing them to build an unmanned telecommunications facility on private property in a residential neighborhood in Wailua Homesteads.
Opponents immediately threatened to take legal action to prevent the structure from ever being built, saying the 45-foot-high tower has no place in a residential neighborhood.
Meeting at the Lihu‘e Civic Center, commissioners approved conditions, including one that requires a tower and facility be built to accommodate two other cellphone (cellular-telephone) carriers, and another mandating Nextel leaders to consult with the Kaua‘i Police Department and the county Department of Water leaders to make sure their project doesn’t interfere with public-safety radio systems.
The project, which includes a 45-foot-high antenna on private property, created an uproar among residents in Wailua Homesteads even before the approval. Critics are so incensed over the approval that a lawsuit might be filed to halt the development of the project.
Several hundred other residents threw their support behind the project, contending it will greatly enhance cellphone service in Wailua Homesteads both on a day-to-day basis and during a crisis or emergency.
An equal number of residents, against the proposal, have complained that a residential neighborhood is no place for a commercial project, and that the project would open the way for more such projects in neighborhoods, as would be required by federal law, and would be an eyesore.
Nextel leaders, including Peter Jaeger, technical operations manager, and Calvert Chun, a project manager, have sought a slew of permits for the project.
The project calls for the installation of a 45-foot-tall antenna pole, and two other buildings within a space that is less than 600 square feet, of a one-acre homesite owned by Kerry Oda at 6440 Pu‘upilo Rd.
Citing incompatibility with existing residential uses and other issues, county Planning Department staff submitted a recommendation not to approve the project.
That report put Commissioners Ted Daligdig III and Abigail Santos, both chairpersons of the commission at one time, at odds.
Daligdig supported approval of the project because he felt it would benefit people not only in Wailua, but those in communities beyond Wailua.
Daligdig attacked a portion of the Planning Department staff report, characterizing it as being “slanted” because there is now substantially more support for the project.
Just a few weeks earlier, commissioners and Planning Department leaders received many letters against the project.
“What about other people who support it?” Daligdig asked. “I think you have slanted (it) on one side. We can’t rely totally on the opposition.”
Commissioner Larry Chaffin said if commission members and county planners were to rely on petitions, they would have no accurate way of determining who is for or who is against the project.
“My feeling is that these petitioners (those for and against projects) are trying to make the best impression in both cases,” he said after the meeting.
Many times, critics and supporters get signatures of folks who don’t live anywhere near a proposed project site, he said.
Form letters signed by folks also don’t carry any weight with him, because they may not accurately reflect the sentiment of petition-signers, Chaffin said.
Daligdig also questioned language in the report that raised questions, from his perspective, about the safety of the project.
“Can you say that (the project) is detrimental to health and safety (of residents)?” Daligdig asked. “You have to substantiate your report. Where are you getting your data?”
Senior Planner Bryan Mama-clay, speaking for the department, said planners weighed deeply the sentiment of the community before recommending commissioners reject the permit request from Nextel.
“The community raised the concerns. Data (on potential health risks) was vague,” Mamaclay said. “This is the way the community feels. They didn’t want it there.”
Mamaclay said issues of how many visits Nextel employees would make to the site, and traffic, came up during the analysis of the proposal.
Chun said a single employee would make periodic visits to the Oda property to check the equipment, and that traffic from the site would not pose a problem.
While there may not be data to show the project could be harmful to people’s health, Mamaclay characterized the opposition as “an opinionated kind of objection.”
Deputy County Attorney Laurel Loo said the planners had not intentionally raised the safety issue in their report, and that the language in the report spoke of how the project would affect the esthetics of the residential neighborhood.
Commissioner Abigail Santos, meanwhile, threw her support behind the department report. She said the thrust behind the denial made sense.
To put such a project in the residential area is akin to “our destroying the peace and tranquilly of the neighborhood,” Santos said.
Allowing Nextel leaders to set up a facility in Wailua Homesteads would open the way, as allowed by federal law, for other cell-phone companies to set up towers in Wailua Homesteads, Santos said.
Such a trend could result in the building of more towers in the area that people don’t want, she said.
Nextel leaders said that, aside from their company, no other cell-phone companies are interested in setting up shop in Wailua Homesteads.
Chun said that it would be folly on the part of commissioners to make a decision based on whether or not more cell-phone companies would come to area, as “they might not come.”
Daligdig and Chaffin, an architect, said they would like Nextel leaders to enter into a “co-location” agreement with other cell-phone companies.
That means Nextel leaders would allow representatives of competing companies to attach antennas onto their tower.
If he had his way, Chaffin said he would like to see a tower accommodate the needs of all five cell-phone companies operating in Hawai‘i.
That may be an impossibility, Chun said, adding that he was not aware of a tower that could meet that demand. “I present that as a challenge to you,” Chaffin said with a smile.
Chaffin also wants to see towers placed away from residential areas, an idea embraced by some other commission members and Nextel leaders, if that proposition could work.
“I have pushed for the county to demand that cell-phone companies get together and give us a drawing of where their towers are, where they have good coverage, and where they have less coverage,” Chaffin said.
“There should be a coordination among cell-phone companies, showing they can provide effective service throughout the island.”
In recommending the Nextel project not proceed, county planners explained:
- Some of the towers on Kaua‘i are generally located in commercial and industrial areas;
- While the proposed system will improve communications during emergencies and crisis situations, “the health, safety, peace, morals, comfort, and general welfare of the community” should be considered;
- The proposed use is not a compatible use, and is detrimental to the “health, safety, peace, morals, comfort and general welfare” of people who live by the proposed project:
- Residents immediately around the project feel the undertaking will unduly affect the esthetic value of their surroundings, and that there are no assurances the project will “provide (neighboring property owners) the peace, comfort, and private enjoyment of their property in the future;”
- Nextel leaders have not engaged in an exhaustive search for an alternate site, including government lands.
But company leaders have said they have done that, and that the proposed Oda site makes the most sense, and can reach many customers.
The project should be killed, according to William Sweeney, an attorney and a critic of the proposal. “Is it the decision of the Kaua‘i Planning Commission to promote commercial use in a residential neighborhood?” Sweeney asked.
Another audience member said he lives a few doors down from the project, and that his wife is recovering from cancer.
While acknowledging there is no scientific evidence to show the cell-phone technology can physically harm people, he said the proposed project has “her losing sleep.”
Jaeger said the technology behind the proposed project is safe and sound, and that Nextel leaders operate 10 other telecommunication sites on Kaua‘i that have not created any adverse impacts on people or surrounding areas.
Nextel officials said the planned, 45-foot tower would be a “stealth tree” that would blend into the surroundings.
Jaeger also contended the new project, when operational, will enhance communication capabilities in Wailua Homesteads, and will benefit the community, he said.
“This is a strategic location for Nextel service,” Jaeger said.
