Baltimore County school administrators plan to lease school property to phone companies to construct cell towers, alarming some community activists who say they knew nothing of the plans until they were approved.
Randallstown residents are appealing the school system?s agreement to lease property on the Randallstown High School campus to the parent company of T-Mobile, Omnipoint Communications, next week. They said they hope to block an agreement that allows the company to construct a 110-foot tower on top of a light pole near the school?s tennis court.
“The school system stands to gain a revenue stream, but we don?t stand to gain anything,” said Aaron Plymouth, immediate past president of the school?s Parent Teacher Association. “I can?t imagine looking at that ugly thing every morning for the next 25 years or more.”
School officials did not respond to several requests for information on the agreement, or plans for towers at other schools. Community leaders said the school system signed a renewable 25-year lease with Omnipoint for $1,500 per month.
Locally, school officials in Carroll County said they?ve declined offers from cell phone companies, but a Harford County school board member floated the idea earlier this week. AT&T officials said they?ve signed leases already for towers at Montgomery and Howard County schools.
There, company spokeswoman Alexa Kaufman said, the arrangement is mutually beneficial.
“Schools, wireless customers in the community and the carriers who serve them win,” Kaufman said.
But Linda Dorsey Walker, a Randallstown resident fighting the Baltimore County proposal, said she fears students could wander near high-voltage equipment. She cited the fatal electrocution of 14-year-old Deanna Green on a Baltimore City softball field last year.
“That young lady sat next to me in church every Sunday until her death,” Walker said. “When I heard of this project, I said, ?I?m going to do something to fight it.? ”
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