A garden view of the downtown Boulder Creek site where Verizon plans to put a 50-foot cell tower, as represented by the pole and flags.
Sunset Magazine once called Boulder Creek “absurdly rural,” and many of its residents are none too happy that urban living may soon muscle its way into their landscape, in the form of a 50-foot-tall cell phone tower. Verizon Wireless has plans to construct the tower in downtown Boulder Creek—disguised as a pine tree set among the stunning panorama of redwood trees—in order to accommodate smartphone users’ greater demand for bandwidth.
In its current scheduled location, the tower will be visible from Big Basin Highway and Highway 9, “which is where everyone turns to go visit Big Basin Park,” says 35-year-old Boulder Creek resident Rachel Wooster. “It will impact our tourists. It will impact our economy. It will impact our businesses.”
Residents are concerned that the tower will decrease the values of their homes and emit harmful radiation.
“They say [the tower] is going to blend into the trees. These monopines are bluish in their needle color, so when they are placed right in front of [real] trees they’re actually going stand out more because they’re going to appear a different color,” says Wooster. She has spearheaded a petition opposing the tower, signed up 340 residents (roughly 5 percent of Boulder Creek’s population) and led dozens of locals to hearings this summer, in an attempt to urge Verizon to choose another location for the tower. Locals have even created a list of nine other suggested locations for the tower.
Wooster, a professional nanny who has taken up the cause because her 21-month-old godson would eventually go to an elementary school she believes is too close to the proposed cell tower, has spent countless hours researching and compiling reports on the subject since she learned about the tower in July. She says she has been frustrated by missing documents and errors in reports put together by the Santa Cruz County Planning Department, an agency she believes isn’t taking the matter seriously enough.
Frank Barron, Land Use Planner at the Santa Cruz County Planning Department, says that according to federal law, county agencies are not allowed to regulate against cell phone towers based on radiation, as long as the tower complies with the FCC-determined limit on radio frequency emissions, which this tower would. Rather, the county would only be able to deny the permit for the cell phone tower based on aesthetics.
“There are some people who think that there are health effects, that’s why they make a big deal about it, but there hasn’t been any scientific studies that have been verified that prove they have health effects,” says Barron, who calls Wooster “a very conscientious and very active citizen” but adds, “She has some time on her hands.”
“I don't think [Barron] likes me holding his work accountable or pointing out the errors in his report,” counters Wooster. “It just became very apparent to me that the county wasn’t exactly doing what it was supposed to be doing.”
Wooster has no previous activism experience, aside from volunteering as a foster mom for stray cats. But she says her strong personal ties to this issue are what motivate her. “I would not be spending the amount of time on this if it was not for my godson. It’s all about my godson. And he’s such a ball. I love him to death.”
Verizon is currently exploring other locations for towers, says Heidi Flato, a public relations officer for Verizon. But from the company’s perspective, the current site is still the best option, she says.
“The proposed site contains a relatively flat, undeveloped space that has access, and utilities at the end of town near an existing grove of trees. The location is ideal to provide the desired coverage [and] capacity from a radio engineering perspective,” she says. “The existing trees would provide an excellent backdrop for the proposed tree pole. The landlord was interested in entering into a lease agreement with acceptable terms for Verizon and discussions with the planning department were supportive.”
Another hearing will take place Friday, Sept. 20 in front of County Zoning Administrator Eric Marlatt and if, the tower is approved at the Sept. 20hearing, Boulder Creek residents have the option to appeal the decision to the Planning Commission, and then to the County Board of Supervisors, who will have the final decision.
