Area Villages Clash With Verizon

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL — Verizon announced last week that it planned to start submitting applications to install 5G antennas in Western Springs, Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills, prompting one village leader to accuse the telecommunications company of "taking advantage" of the coronavirus epidemic. But last week, the firm promised to refrain from submitting applications during the crisis, officials said Monday.

Since last year, residents of the three villages have opposed the possibility of 5G antennas, which are the latest in cellphone technology. They have contended the antennas would hurt their towns' beauty and residents' health.

A week ago, a Verizon official sent letter to officials in the three villages announcing the company's intention to submit applications. And it objected specifically to the recently enacted design standards in Western Springs for 5G antennas, which are formally known as "small wireless facilities." The company said it wanted to work in good faith with the villages, especially in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter the next day, Michael Marrs, an attorney for the villages, asked Verizon to hold off from submitting applications during the crisis.

Unlike other towns in the Chicago area, Marrs said, the three villages have seen strong opposition to 5G antennas, leading to packed meetings, protests and mobilization of large groups of "alarmed residents besieging village staff and and elected officials with requests and demands." This has resulted in "enormous" expense to the villages in staff time and money paid to legal, technical and political consultants, Marrs said.

Any applications submitted now, Marrs said, would come as the villages' staffs are stretched thin in dealing with the ever-shifting landscape of the pandemic. The lawyer said the villages would employ any disaster-related delays allowed under state law.

"Your letter has been met by the various villages with, to put it kindly, dismay," he said.

In a letter to the community Monday, Village President Alice Gallagher said the villages admonished Verizon for "taking advantage" of the crisis "when all local resources and efforts are currently geared to managing the public health crisis."

Verizon's promise to not submit applications for now, Gallagher said, came during a conference call last Wednesday after area village officials demanded the requests be put on hold. That call ended because of "technical difficulties" on Verizon's end, she said. The company then canceled the call and said its continuation would be scheduled for a later date, Gallagher said.

Joseph Farwell, the Verizon official who wrote the letter to the villages, did not return a message for immediate comment.