Northampton, Pa. Residents Fight Plan To Erect Cell Towers on Lawns
By Paul Kurtz
NORTHAMPTON, Pa. (CBS) - Neighbors in a Bucks County community are joining forces to fight an international construction firm's plan to erect cell phone towers for T-Mobile, some on residents' front lawns.
Ed Bendzlowicz may soon be looking up at a 25 foot cell phone tower when he steps outside his house.
"They're coming down, they're putting the cable in. They started up here. It looks like they're trying to run it to these towers as quick as possible," he told KYW Newsradio.
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On his lawn, by the curb, workers have spray-painted a circle where the hole for a pole is to be dug. American Tower Corporation plans to place nearly 60 cell phone nodes on existing or new poles throughout the township.
Twelve new towers are slated to be put up on right-of-way areas adjacent to private homes.
Benzlowicz and his neighbors are outraged at what they call the "audacity" of the company's plan and the way it was rammed through.
"There was no public hearing, no public notice. They did this in closed doors. Everybody in this neighborhood is upset. People are stopping by signing this petition to get it stopped," he said.
In addition to the petition, neighbors are hiring an attorney. The goal is seek an emergency injunction halting the construction.
American Tower Corporation did not return our calls.
