Dacula Commissioner Refuses To Address Community's Concerns On Cell Tower Until 'Vetted'

DACULA — A public hearing in Dacula is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday. Residents who recently learned of a proposed cell phone tower that could be built in their residential neighborhood plan to speak against it. They’re asking everyone to wear red to show solidarity.

The public hearing will be held at the Gwinnett Justice & Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive, in Lawrenceville or people can view the livestream at www.tvgwinnettlive.com and on Gwinnett’s Facebook. The zoned property proposal is on the agenda. The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners generally holds the public hearings on the fourth Tuesday of each month to consider land-use issues such as rezonings, special use permits and more. County residents will be able to offer comments from the audience.

The proposed site for the Dacula cell phone tower is located in District 3 Commissioner Jasper Watkins' district. He declined an interview until after the hearing.

Residents have expressed frustration with the city over the proposal, saying they should have been notified sooner.

In an Oct. 20 townhall, community members presented questions, but were told by Watkins that they couldn’t be answered until after “vetted” by the county’s legal team.

He said this was to make sure they weren’t “violating any rules of transparency” and wanted to be fair to the applicant too.

“The last thing we need is the AJC taking the answers and making it more than it is,” Watkins said. “I’m not saying we’ll keep it in house but we will vet the questions to make sure we get the right answers.”

He reassured the Hamilton Mills group that their emails have been received.

The cell phone tower developer was invited, but didn’t attend, Watkins told the audience.

Candice Lange is a mother and resident of Dacula. She told Patch that not many people were even aware of the proposal until another neighbor posted about it on Nextdoor. According to her, only 30 residents knew about it. An online petition was launched to stop any future plans for the 14-story tower that was proposed by Atlanta-based wireless developer CitySwitch and Ignite Wireless. As of Tuesday afternoon, 852 signatures have been collected.

Lange said that when she moved to Georgia from Oregon, she purposely picked her current neighborhood for the airspace and the trees.

“It's so calming, I just love coming into Hamilton Mill,” she said. “The landscape is beautiful and now they want to put a 150-feet tower right in the middle of that. I didn’t move into an industrial or commercial area.”

The proposed site isn’t a large field either, Lange said.

“This is a very small goat farm that actually has fire lumber,” she said. “It’s this nice piece of land, it’s small and on the corner. It’s very tranquil.”

She said she worries that the proximity of the tower to the street will put drivers and pedestrians in danger.

"The proposed site is literally in our back and front yards," wrote petition organizer Beverly McLee. "We don't want it and we don't need it!"

"Cell towers near residential areas decrease property values," she wrote, adding that they also "degrade the character of existing single-family neighborhoods, and devalue nearby land that's currently under development."

McLee cites potential safety concerns as well, stating that debris can fall from the top of the tower causing injury or death.

AT&T didn't immediately respond to an interview request, but shared an email statement:

This site is part of our ongoing investment to improve service and coverage for our Dacula customers. When selecting a new cell site, we work with local officials to find the location that balances the needs of our business with the concerns of the community.

Messages were also left with CitySwitch.