Planning Board to Hold Public Hearing on Controversial Cell Tower Thursday

The Lindenhurst Village Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Thursday night with a regard to a proposal to install a cell phone tower at the village parking lot located at the corner of Heling Boulevard and East John Street.

The application for the tower is being made by Island Tower LLC, Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

The planning board meeting starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at Village Hall and it will likely be a packed house as many residents have made clear they are against the proposal.

A Facebook group page entitled “No Cell Phone Tower in Lindenhurst” has 279 likes and a online petition against the proposal has collected 45 signatures so far. 

Opponents say they are concerned about potential health risks posed by the tower, which would be located near the Lindenhurst LIRR station. The Facebook page cites a 2004 German study that purported to show that cancer rates more than tripled among people living within 400 meters of cell phone towers or antennas.

The American Cancer Society, however, says there’s is ”very little evidence” to support the idea that cell towers cause cancer.

“The amount of exposure from living near a cell phone tower is typically many times lower than the exposure from using a cell phone,” the American Cancer Society says on its website.

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