Updated: March 28

CONTINUE SIGNING THE PETITION WITH YOUR ADDRESS... The Advisory Planning Commission voted 4-1 to recommend denial of the application. This is not over yet. The City Council meeting on April 3 is even greater importance. We are assuming that Verizon will bring in “bigger guns” to get their points across. We need to continue seeking signatures on the petition and make sure as many neighbors as possible show up for the City Council meeting on April 3 at 6:30pm Please include your address in the comments section, every effort is being made to keep your information confidential yet valid for the City to accept

Updated: March 26, 2018 - 3PM

When signing this petition, on the right, please add your home address in the Comments section. We have been informed by the City that signatures without an address cannot be accepted. Thank you.

Updated: March 25, 2018

You can email your concerns to the Eagan City Council at citycouncil@cityofeagan.com and CC Mayor Mike Maguire at mmaguire@cityofeagan.com. You can also send it to each of the City Council members directly at the following email addresses:

Cyndee Fields City Council cfields@cityofeagan.com

Gary Hansen City Council ghansen@cityofeagan.com

Meg Tilley City Council mtilley@cityofeagan.com

Mike Maguire Mayor mmaguire@cityofeagan.com

Paul Bakken City Council pbakken@cityofeagan.com

The Advisory Planning Commission agenda can be found at:

https://www.cityofeagan.com/meetings

The planning report is at:

http://eagan.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=603&meta_id=87724

Supporting documentation including Verizon’s application, photos and public comments can be found at: http://eagan.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=603&meta_id=87726 . Of particular interest is Dennnis Bechly's comment toward the end of this document, in the Public Comment section. It is an excellent summary of the issues written by one of our neighbors.

Updated- 03/24/2018-

We are requesting a delay for the April 3rd City Council meeting for the vote on this proposal. In order to do this we will need local residents to send a request directly to the City Council asking for the delay in writing via email by Monday, March 26th. We have not been given ample notice to research the property value impact and other issues this proposal will have.

Please email me your email address at n.decuir@yahoo.com so I can send you an email template that you can use to send to the City of Eagan Council Members asking to delay the April 3rd vote so all of us have ample time to understand this important issue.

Original Post - 3/22/2018:

I am a homeowner that is opposed to the proposed 119 foot Cell Phone Tower the City of Eagan is considering to be built by Verizon Wireless literally in our backyard. Which by the way may be used by other cell companies in the future to attach their hardware to as well. I feel as if the story is still out on whether or not cell towers are safe and I am not willing to take the risk with raising my children near this eyesore. Not to mention what this may do to our property values.

PROPOSED CELL PHONE TOWER - WALDEN HEIGHTS PARK, EAGAN

There is an application to put the first “new construction” 119ft Cell Tower at the north end of Walden Heights Park. VERIZON WIRELESS is petitioning the city to ignore a long standing ordinance by seeking a Variance of 135ft to the MINUMUM 300ft setback from residential property, reducing that setback almost in half. This proposed tower will be positioned on very ACTIVE park property. Children playing on the hill in the park, climbing trees in the summer and sledding in the winter, just adjacent to tower, will be less than 50 ft away. The nearby ball field is less than 150ft away. The metal construction play ground will be less than 400ft away. The walking/bike path will pass within 40ft of the tower and structures.. And of course the tower will be visible throughout the park and neighborhood. Please don’t allow our city officials to force our children and residents to be active under the shadow of a Cell Tower. The precedent could be set for ignoring long standing standards of consideration to residents and for construction of new Cell Towers in any our parks. An Advisory Planning Meeting is scheduled for March 27 at 6:30 in the City Hall Council Chambers. COME VOICE YOUR CONCERNS. You may also send an email to APC@cityofeagan.com or by mail to Community Development Department, 3830 Pilot Knob Road, Eagan, MN 55122. You may also contact any Planning Commission or City Council member.

Studies have shown that even at low levels of this radiation (one tower), there is evidence of damage to cell tissue and DNA, and it has been linked to brain tumors, cancer, suppressed immune function, depression, miscarriage, Alzheimer’s disease, and numerous other serious illnesses.

For example, in “The Influence of Being Physically Near to a Cell Phone Transmission Mast on the Incidence of Cancer” by Horst Eger, Klaus Uwe Hagen, Birgitt Lucas, Peter Vogel, Helmut Voit (Published in Umwelt·Medizin·Gesellschaft 17,4 in 2004), the researchers found a fourfold increase in cancer rates amongst people living within 350 meters of a cell phone tower. Amongst women there was a tenfold increase. ( Please realize a 350 meter radiation area doesn't suddenly drop down to zero at 351 meters. )

In 2011, The World Health Organization (WHO)/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified EMR (microwave radiation) as a possible carcinogen to humans (the same classification as DDT and lead) based on an increased risk for glioma (a malignant type of brain cancer).

In 2015, Morgan, Miller, Sasco and Davies published a paper in the International Journal of Oncology titled “Mobile phone radiation causes brain tumors and should be classified as a probable human carcinogen (2A)." The title says it all in this case.

In the past five years alone, about 1,800 new scientific papers have been published that show adverse health effects. Dr. George Carlo, a public health expert who coordinated the telecommunications industry’s own study, which was mandated by congress, confirms that exposure to communications radiation from wireless technology is "potentially the biggest health insult" this nation has ever seen. Dr. Carlo believes RF/microwave radiation is a greater threat than cigarette smoking and asbestos.

1. Potential health risks to children – The Eagan area has a large number of young families. Children have thinner skulls and the immaturity of their central nervous systems puts them more at risk. See, for example, Morgan, Kesari, and Davis, 2014, "Why children absorb more microwave radiation than adults: The consequences", published in the Journal of Microscopy and Ultrastructure.

2. The devaluation of real estate. In March, 2014 the National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy’s survey “Neighborhood Cell Towers & Antennas—Do They Impact a Property’s Desirability?” found that an overwhelming majority of respondents (94%) reported that cell towers and antennas in a neighborhood or on a building would impact interest in a property and the price they would be willing to pay for it.

Studies by Dr. Sandy Bond, Ph.D. have shown that a cell phone tower negatively affects the real estate values of homes surrounding it. Depending on proximity to the cell phone tower property values can be reduced by up to 20% for properties within 200-300 meters of the tower (See for example http://www.clarkdale.az.gov/2015_Meetings/2015_Council/2015-05-12_Council_Regular/Public_Comment_Rcd_Karen_Daniels.pdf

Stonecliffe residents do not want decreased property values caused by an unnecessary cell phone tower, and we hope that the City of Eagan wouldn't want the value of homes to fall substantially as such a decrease would be accompanied by a significant decline in property tax revenues.

3. Residents already have adequate cell phone and wireless data coverage in the area and so we don't need a new Verizon phone tower. . There is not a real enough "need" to warrant putting the residents in this area at risk for health problems or a decrease in their property values. FOR THE SIMPLE REASON ONLY OF FASTER CELL SERVICE!

4. A 100-foot tower is incompatible with the neighborhood aesthetics. The antenna will be in the close proximity to the quiet residential neighborhood, churches and to the beautiful Lebanon Hills Park which is enjoyed by so many children and adults alike.

Please join with me and show your support with signing this online petition that will be shared with the Eagan City Council to VOTE NO on allowing this cell phone tower to be built near our homes. Please help keep our neighborhood and park safe for our children to enjoy!

Sincerely,

The DeCuir's

Pinetree Curve