Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 27
South Haven Residents Oppose Oncor Tower • Lakeside Traffic Concerns Commissioners • Plans Unveiled for New Shopping Centers • Tax Rates Set for Approval This Week
South Haven Residents Oppose Oncor Tower
Homeowners who don’t want to live next door to a cell tower may be out of luck due to their neighborhood’s unique geography.
Oncor wants to erect a 200-foot tower on land it owns near South Haven, a subdivision of 200 homes zoned to Coppell ISD. More than two dozen South Haven residents testified against the proposal last week during a public hearing at Dallas City Hall. The problem is, none of these people live in, vote in, or pay taxes to Dallas. South Haven is in Irving, even though it is disconnected from the rest of that city; its residents must use roads in Coppell and Dallas to access their neighborhood.
(See “Isolated Neighborhood Stuck in Fast Lane” in Vol. 3, No. 27.)
Oncor owns nearly 100 acres due west of South Haven, and that parcel is in Dallas. Within Big D’s Code of Ordinances, Oncor’s land is known as Planned Development 942. On Aug. 21, Dallas’ City Plan and Zoning Commission considered a proposal to amend the rules for that planned development in a few ways:
“Tower/antenna for cellular communication” would be added to a list of uses that are permitted by right. That list already includes an electrical generating plant, an electrical substation, and a radio, television, or microwave tower.
Language would be added establishing 200 feet as the maximum height for a radio, television, or microwave tower as well as a tower/antenna for cellular communication.
New language would also exempt such towers from Dallas’ regulations about “residential proximity slope,” which normally restrict the heights of structures that are near homes.
The Aug. 21 public hearing featured testimony from 25 South Haven residents; 10 showed up in person, and 15 more shared their views remotely. Their predominant concerns were the tower’s potential ill effects on their families’ health and their properties’ values. Several pointed out that the tower would loom over a park with a playground, and they envisioned it collapsing there.
They also expressed frustration about the construction of an electrical substation that Oncor began months ago. That process has led to traffic, noise, and the clearing of trees. Some of the most passionate commentary came from Pavan Bikki, whose house on Kingfisher Road is the closest to the proposed site of the tower. “We are living in a substation,” he said. His next-door neighbor Kaveri Mulukutla added this: “We deserve better than to be treated as a sacrifice zone.”
Before the hearing began, city attorney Laura Morrison provided some legal advice to the commissioners. She said the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits local governments from banning wireless infrastructure. That law also prohibits local governments from considering radio frequency emissions during their deliberations about such infrastructure.
Despite Morrison’s warning, Commissioner Thomas Forsyth tried to cite a study about emissions that was published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health. Other commissioners cut him off, and Chair Tony Shidid redirected the discussion to land use.
In response to a question from Shidid, city planner Liliana Garza said the proposed tower would feature the same type of equipment that’s already attached to a water tower on Oncor’s property. Jennifer Hiromoto, a former city planner who represented Oncor at the hearing, said the equipment on the water tower is 130 feet tall but is not performing as well as it should.
Hiromoto also said the proposed location of the new tower, which is intended to enhance Oncor’s internal communications, is the best location due to the “extensive” network of power lines and transmission lines crossing the property. She later said there were three viable locations, and the proposed location is the furthest from the South Haven homes.
“There were a lot of calculations that were put in place to figure out where this could even go,” Hiromoto said.
Before a majority of the commissioners voted to recommend approval of Oncor’s plans, Vice Chair Brent Rubin said their hands were tied by federal law and guidance from their attorney: “I don’t see any other option but to vote in favor of the motion, so it’s not with any particular joy that I do it.”
Barring any schedule changes, the Dallas City Council should consider this proposal on Oct. 8.
Lakeside Traffic Concerns Commissioners
While running a morning errand last week, I got a firsthand look at the long lines of vehicles waiting to drop kids off at Denton Creek and Wilson elementary schools. Both campuses have taken on new students this semester due to the closure of Pinkerton Elementary and the shifting of some special programs.
Members of the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission envisioned similar gridlock in the streets around Lakeside Elementary as they considered plans for an expansion of the school.