Email by Ed KlopfensteinPage 1 of 2
Machelle Hill
From: Peter Friedman R.~CF T~.T
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 1:14 PM ocr / V Ei ]~
L
? ~
To: Jaycee Holman; Machelle Hill ZQ~o
Subject: FW: Protest of Clearwire Tower Cf~
YOF~
CITyCCE
RKS OFF C
E
This was received and I believe is for the Verizon application before the Commission tonight.
Thanks
Pete
Pete Friedman, AICP
Deputy Planning Director
33 E. Broadway Ave.
Meridian, ID 83642
phone (208) 884-5533
fax (208) 489-0576
From: Kristy Vigil
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 1:11 PM
To: Peter Friedman; Bill Parsons
Subject: FW: Protest of Clearwire Tower
FYI and please clarify the subject is Verizon and not Clearwire.
From: Jason Evans [mailto:jasonevans@cableone.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 1:05 PM
To: Kristy Vigil
Subject: FW: Protest of Clearwire Tower
FYI
From: Nefi Garcia [mailto:nefi.garcia@taic.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 11:44 AM
To: 'Jason Evans'
Subject: FW: Protest of Clearwire Tower
From: Ed Klopfenstein [mailto:ed@visualstring.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 11:39 AM
To: ktvbnews@ktvb.com; dcarnopis@idahostatesman.com; sskrysak@ktrv.com; medmonds@kivitv.com
Cc: mharmonl2@msn.com; nefi.garcia@taic.net; Clark.Linda@meridianschools.org
Subject: Protest of Clearwire Tower
Good afternoon:
As members of the news media, I wanted to invite you to tonight's Meridian Planning Commission at 7 p.m.
where the planning commission will discuss a new cell phone tower proposed as an addition for one of Meridian
High School's light poles.
10/21 /2010
Page 2 of 2
This is an interesting news story partly because it's a reflection of the tight budgets in Meridian's schools and
partly because the planning commission appears to be moving outside the normal practice of placing cell towers
on commercial property. We feel this decision's effect will transfer part of the district's budget shortfall to the
immediate neighbors who may have to bear further declines in property values because of the project.
As you know, the Meridian district has had to trim $8 million this year
(http//www.raiseyourhandidaho.com/m_e__ridian-schools-musttrim-8-million) from their budget. The lease for this
cell phone tower will help bring in needed revenue. However, according to several studies on the effect of cell
towers in residential areas, residents within 700 feet of the tower face anywhere from a 2% to 20% fall in home
values. While we hope for the low end, we understand that the average impact could be around 10% to 15%. That
affects around 40 to 60 homes in the surrounding Vineyard subdivision that have already seen a 20 to 30 percent
fall in home values since 2007 pre-recession highs.
The usual practice is to site cell towers in commercial or industrial districts (see attached). Why they are using the
high school, an R4 residential district, instead of commercial property like the school district grounds (no
surrounding homes) is obvious because installation is cheaper: existing light poles at the high school are strong
enough to support cell tower equipment and only need to be raised 20 feet.
All of the residents affected by this decision support the school district. We are also not political, which represents
our slow defense against TAIC of Salt Lake and the district. Because of our slow reaction to organize, we fear
that our discussion tonight against this project will be ignored and the project will go through. (They have already
finished construction on the lower updates of the tower.)
Our broader concern is double taxation and a sea change in how governments are forced to fund critical services. I
hope you agree that it is worth covering.
With best regards;
Ed Klopfenstein
Meridian, Id
208.887.0811
10/21/2010