A Lockport panel voted narrowly Wednesday to approve and modify plans for a cell tower on Lockport High School District 205 property near Rotary Park, despite concerns raised by some residents.
The District 205 board approved a lease for a cell tower in September 2022, signing a lease that October and an updated lease in November 2025, according to the Lockport Zoning and Planning Commission. The City Council must approve the project before construction, set for this year, begins on the single-pole tower between baseball fields on the east side of the property.
After Zoning and Planning Commission members moved to both deny and approve the plan for a 120-foot tower failed due to tie votes, Aaron Peters brought forth a compromise.
He called for a 90-foot tower, despite potential issues with a shorter tower brought forward by the contractor for AT&T petitioning for the project, Derek McGrew.
“I’m going to make a motion that I don’t think Derek is going to like, but I do think it will move us to the step,” Peters said.
Peters, commission Chair Scott Likins, Joe Giorgetti and Jordan Miczek voted in favor of the shorter tower, allowing it to pass. Luis Calderon and Matt O’Hare voted against the plan, while Kyle Quinn was absent.
McGrew said AT&T already agreed to lower the tower height from 150 feet to 120 feet after hearing feedback during the commission’s June meeting.
“I don’t believe we can lower the tower anymore, and to be honest with you, I wouldn’t if I were you,” he said. “I see so many times where towers get reduced in height, and then another carrier comes in and says, ‘yeah that’s too short. We can’t use it. We need another tower.'”
If AT&T and the City Council ultimately agree to move forward with the 90-foot tower, Paul and Michelle Angielski say they will consider selling their home 250 feet from the proposed site.
“I would have never bought a home next to a cell tower,” Michelle Angielski said. “Because the scientific data proves that there’s an issue.”
Federal guidelines prevented the Planning and Zoning Commission from denying, based on environmental concerns, the petition for a cell tower at the Lockport Township High School athletic fields, 1298 Garfield Ave.
But that didn’t stop the Angielskis and other residents from questioning whether federal guidelines regarding radiation exposure are strict enough.
The American Cancer Society says on its website there is no strong evidence showing radiation from cellphone towers causes any noticeable health effects, though “most expert organizations agree that more research is needed to help clarify this.”
Michelle Angielski said an article she found online from Nexus Towers, a cell tower leasing consultant company, elevated her concerns about exposure to radiation. The article provides a list of steps people living or working closer than 1,300 feet from a tower can take to limit potential health risks.
Those include shielding roofs with metal foil to limit radiation let into homes, wrapping windows with film and installing steel doors.
Kara and Daniel Phillip, Lockport residents of 15 years, expressed similar safety concerns and beliefs that McGrew’s presentation, claiming property values would not decrease, to be misleading.
“That is where we put all of our children for school sports and just to play,” Kara Phillip stated. “I don’t know how anyone, in good conscience, personally, put that in the middle of this gorgeous park.”
Meanwhile, McGrew agreed to adjustments, including adding baffles to reduce sound from a attached generator for the tower and replacing tower fencing that incorporated barbed wire with taller, more natural looking fencing.
He said adding the cell tower is crucial to provide better service for bus drivers along with police and firefighters.
“You also have your typical cellphone tower uses — your voice, your data and texts,” he said. “This is really needed in this area.”
The next Lockport City Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on July 15 at 222 E. 9th St. Mayor Steven Streit would not comment Thursday whether the cell tower would be up for vote, saying he had not yet watched the video of Wednesday’s Zoning and Planning Commission meeting.
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