Letters

I read with interest the article about a plan to erect a cell tower in Sagaponack [“A Fight Over a Cellphone Tower Has Created a Rift Among Sagaponack Village Residents,” 27east.com, August 28].

According to the article, Mayor Bill Tillotson of Sagaponack said he was simply responding to “myriad people banging on the door about getting a tower up as soon as possible, with zero opposition.” Mayor Tillotson remarked that he could not speak on whether the tower and the signals it emits will pose a health risk.

There are many questions from residents of Sagaponack about the safety of another tower here on the South Fork. It is Mayor Tillotson’s job to field these questions and any other questions his constituents are concerned about, especially those related to health issues.

Although Mayor Tillotson’s statement that “Anywhere you go in this area, you’re going to have 5G radiation,” we may not be able to escape it, may be true, nevertheless I see no need to compound it.

Until science can conclude that there is no connection between cell towers and health, fear of radiation emitted by a cell tower is a rational fear.

After signing a 55-year contract with Connecticut-based Homeland Towers and neglecting to schedule a public hearing, Tillotson said the village did not legally require a public hearing. Maybe it was not legally required, but it seems to me that perhaps it would have been the right thing to do.

I have lived here in this area full time for the past 30 years. This article was disturbing. I do hope the signing of this contract with Homeland Towers was not deliberately planned so as not to go before the village land use boards for approval (getting a tower up as soon as possible with zero opposition). The citizens must always meet the approval of any and all plans on their property — building, adding or changing almost anything.

Is it time to ponder and reconsider this decision about the tower being constructed on village property at the Sagaponack Village Hall before it is too late?

Amy Palmer

Sagaponack