OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Residents in Oakland Township are pushing back against a proposed cellphone tower that would be put in their neighborhood.
The proposed tower would sit at 3416 E. Clarkston Road in Oakland Township.
Alex Horak lives about 500 feet from there.
He says he’s not against cell towers but doesn’t think this proposed one will serve a purpose.
“There’s no evidence of dropped calls and there’s also no evidence of network overload — two things that would justify potentially building the tower,” said Horak.
According to documents, the land is owned by Lake Orion Community Schools.
TowerCo is the company looking to lease the land from the district, so they can put the tower there.
The Oakland County Planning Commission sent the tower proposal to the board of trustees for approval back in March.
“I’m not sure that a tower is a great attraction to anybody,” said Nicolette Jenaras, Horak’s mother.
Jenaras says she and other community members don’t want the land to be disrupted by the tower.
“The neighbors that you can see… just a few hundred feet away, their backyards are going to be devastated,” Jenaras said.
Jenaras added that she’s worried the tower will affect the property value of homes in the area.
“I had a realtor tell me up to 50% reduction in our property values, and that’s pretty dramatic,” she said.
I reached out to TowerCo and Lake Orion Community Schools for a comment on this story. I was told the district plans on providing comment Thursday morning.
TowerCo told me that they do not provide comment on their projects to the media.
Meanwhile, Horak and his mother hope township officials do not approve the construction of the tower.
"I am against and the community is against the inappropriate and totally irresponsible placement of cell towers,” Horak said.
The board of trustees meeting to decide the decision about the tower has been rescheduled to April 30th at 7pm.
