14-story cell tower planned for Delaware cemetery

A proposal to build a 14-story cellphone tower in a cemetery and camouflage it as a bell tower has nearby residents saying it ruins sacred ground while supporters say that excuse is really another way of saying not in my backyard.

Several neighbors of All Saints Cemetery who oppose the tower say they will attend a special-use permit hearing Thursday over AT&T and Catholic Cemeteries Inc.'s application to build the tower near the back of the cemetery on Kirkwood Highway in Milltown.

Opponents have gathered about 200 signatures online and about 50 signatures on paper of people against building the structure.

Joe Naccarato is against the tower for several reasons, including that the tower will be located on sacred ground and its proposed 142-foot height. The height would surpass Wilmington's DuPont Building by about 18 feet.

"It's going to be twice as tall as most of the trees that surround it," Naccarato said. "So it's basically going to be up there sort of overshadowing our residences."

Officials from AT&T and the Diocese of Wilmington, which oversees Catholic Cemeteries, said a lot of consideration was taken before going into this proposal.

Aesthetically speaking, the tower will be disguised to look like an attractive bell tower that could have a bell soundtrack for appropriate times or events, said Diocese spokesman Robert Krebs. The proposed tower also will be located in a remote area of the cemetery, closer to St. Mark's High School.

"I'm sure they're going to be able to see it, but from what I understand it's not going to be very unattractive," Krebs said.

While the cemetery is indeed sacred ground, Krebs said only limited sections of the cemetery are designated for burial.

"The site of the proposed bell tower will be in an undeveloped area of the cemetery that is 650 feet – over two football fields – from any home," he said. "Because of its location, in a low section of the property, we don't expect that the tower will appear much higher than the lights on the athletic fields of nearby St. Mark's High School."

Krebs also said the cemetery has a sanitary sewer easement through the grounds of All Saints that was granted so that the local neighborhood could have sanitary sewer service. "We don't feel that sewers endanger the sacred character of the cemetery any more than the bell tower," he said. "The sacred ground argument is indicative of the 'not in my backyard' phenomenon."

AT&T efforts

AT&T considers a variety of factors when determining where equipment will be located with every proposed site, said Daniel Langan, an AT&T spokesman.

"Cell sites are critical 21st Century infrastructure," Langan said. "Ninety-eight percent of Delaware's population subscribe to wireless services, and almost one-quarter of the state's population live in wireless-only households.

"These consumers are demanding more reliable and faster mobile phone and mobile broadband coverage, which is important for public safety, education, telecommuters, and every sector of the local economy. Indeed, according to the FCC, around 70 percent of all 911 calls are now made using cellphones. This proposed site is designed to meet consumer and public safety needs."

He added that AT&T works with local communities to help them better understand the proposal and how the sites will meet residents' demand for coverage. "We look forward to ongoing conversations with local officials about this proposal," he said.

But nearby residents of All Saints disagree about AT&T and Catholic Cemeteries having worked with them. During a meeting last week, several people showed their opposition to the tower going in the cemetery.

"My grandparents are all there and my parents have their plots there," said Rep. Mike Ramone, R-Middle Run Valley, and a graduate of St. Mark's High School. When families bought plots and interred loved ones there, he said, it was with the understanding that "it was sacred ground, it wasn't commercial ground."

Ramone called putting the profit-making tower in the longtime final resting place of generations "the elephant in the room that no one wants."

To Deb Cohen and Tery Griffin, the tower installation will lower their quality of life as well as their property values, like living next to a water tower.

"We looked at a lot of houses for two years," Cohen said, adding that one of Griffin's top priorities was to "not be on top of neighbors."

They finally selected a house in the Highlands of Heritage Park, where their yard backs up to the cemetery and life is tranquil.

"We're afraid we're going to lose that benefit … for the benefit of AT&T," she said.

Alternative sites

Bill Dunn, president of the Milltown-Limestone Civic Association, an umbrella group including numerous neighborhoods around the site, lives in Stanton but owns his parents' former home on Grendon Drive, a few streets from the intended tower site.

To him and others in the group, Dunn said "overall quality of life and property values" are the top concerns about the plan.

"We're offering alternatives," he said.

For example, at nearby Carousel Park, Dunn said the tower could stand on ground that is 80 feet higher than the cemetery location, so the structure could be that much shorter. And while Delaware Park is discontinuing renting cell-relay space on one existing water tower at the Stanton-area racetrack and casino close to the cemetery, Dunn said AT&T could put them on another tower southwest of that one and it wouldn't be near anybody.

Langan, the AT&T spokesman, said no other sites would satisfactorily address the existing gap in coverage.

"This is an ideal location to meet customer demand for improved mobile phone and mobile broadband coverage," he said.

AT&T considers a variety of factors when determining where sites will be constructed, along with the type of equipment that will be installed," he added. "Our engineers have determined that this is an ideal location to meet customer demand for improved mobile phone and mobile broadband coverage," he said. "The location of this proposed site also exceeds the required distance from residences."

Sen. Karen E. Peterson, D-Stanton, said that, provided no restrictions prevented it, New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon told her the county would be amenable to placing a cellphone relay tower in the park.

While many churches now are paid by communication companies to place cell-phone relays on their sanctuary towers, Peterson said, alternative sites could resolve the conflict innate in this tower's location.

"In the Catholic tradition, cemeteries are consecrated ground, holy ground," Peterson said. "Well, not with a cell tower."

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.

Permit hearing

A special use permit hearing will take place at 6 p.m. Sept. 11 the New Castle Room of the New Castle County Department of Land use.

The hearing, before New Castle County Board of Adjustment, will ultimately decide if the tower goes up as the board has the final decision.

The formal written decision will be issued approximately one month after the public hearing and is mailed directly to the applicant. The applicant may appeal the board's decision if it goes against them.