A controversial Verizon cell tower cleared the final two hurdles in the municipal approval process following nearly two-and-a-half hours of discussion at the Oct. 15 Addison Township Board meeting.

In successive 6-1 votes, township officials approved Verizon’s site plan and the land lease agreement for the tower, a monopole structure. The tower will stand 199ft. tall and be located at 5020 Hosner Rd., which is township-owned land.

Treasurer Lori Fisher cast the lone dissenting vote both times, though she did not voice any personal concerns during the discussion.

Township Supervisor Bruce Pearson started the meeting with a statement directed to community members and the parents of Kingsbury students who were in the audience that evening to again voice their opposition to the monopole.

While he spoke, he noted Addison’s township hall sits in the shadow of a cell tower. Pearson also said he has a tower near his home.

“We live with a tower right here in the township . . . and we have not seen any ice knocked off it, and it is next to our playground here and we certainly wouldn’t put the children of any of our employees or anyone that uses it in danger,” he said.

Pearson said one of his central concerns is the lack of cellphone reception, which makes it difficult to contact police and fire during emergencies.

The week before, an Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy said it took him longer than it should have to contact other officers for advice when five unfired bullets were found in a Kingsbury hallway. He could not contact other officers for a period of time because he had no cell service inside the school. The school’s principal, Dave Poirier, was present at the meeting and voiced disapproval of the tower.

“This is about the community being able to have access to emergency services,” Pearson said. “That’s something the township has to look at – we have to give help where help is needed.”

Pearson later spoke with this reporter about the aforementioned incident at Kingsbury. He said it further cemented his opinion that the area needs better cellphone and radio reception.

“There’s going to be a day when somebody maybe gets hurt real bad and we won’t find them until it’s too late because they couldn’t get a 9-1-1 call out,” he said. “And if there ever was an attack at (Kingsbury), heaven help those kids if they can’t get a call out.”

During the meeting, Fisher also noted safety, remembering a time when her son broke his leg and was unable to contact an ambulance because of the lack of reception. Though she recognizes the safety aspect, she indicated it is some of her neighbors’ disapproval of the tower that compelled her to vote no.

Joel King, a U.S. Navy veteran, also talked about safety, but he shifted the discussion to the small, or even nonexistent, health threat he thinks the monopole will pose.

“I’ve served on ships where we had radars that put out (a lot of power). You wouldn’t want to be a bird flying in front of one of them,” he said. “I consider the threat of a cellphone in your pocket worse than a monopole at that distance.”

Ultimately, the board voted 6-1 to approve the land lease agreement and the site plan with two amendments – 1) no barbed wire around the pole and 2) the radiation levels will be observed for four years.

The lease agreement states Addison will recieve $17,000 annually with a 1.5 percent increase each year. At the end of the lease’s five-year term, Verizon will have the opportunity match any competing offers for the land.

Township attorney Robert Davis indicated the radiation observation is meant to be a good-faith gesture to the parents who have repeatedly voiced concerns about the tower.

Davis said the radiation results will be made available to the public.

Following the vote, Kingsbury parents and disgruntled community members again rose from their seats to speak. Many of them expressed disappointment and anger with the board’s decision.

Addison resident and Kingsbury parent William Carroll, who has previously spoken at meetings regarding the tower, said he respects the board and the work it does for the community, but he feels the trustees made the wrong call on the monopole.

“Let Addison be part of the forward-thinking movement – the ones who consider the generations to come,” he said.

Candace LaGest, an Ortonville resident, Kingsbury parent and Kingsbury teacher also spoke. She was visibly angry and shouted at the board. She believes the wetlands near the school will make the monopole’s ability to stand for an extended period of time questionable.

“I would like you to reflect and think (about) how you are going to feel in 10 years – now it’s a what if, but it’s still a possibility – if the tower falls and injures a child, or multiple children or an adult,” she said.

Another frequent attendee at these meetings, Ortonville resident and Kingsbury parent Ivan Lubinski, said he thinks the board doesn’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to the radiation the tower will emit.

“I am very disappointed in all levels of the local government,” he said.

One of the last parents to speak was Oxford resident Tiffaney Stoehr. Stoehr also shouted at the board, using profanity that caused Pearson to remind her that both children and a television camera were present.

She issued an apparent threat to the board during her statement.

“I have your names,” she said. “I’ve got other plans for all of you, and it’s not good.”

Pearson later told this reporter the conduct of some of the speakers that night, namely Stoehr, was disheartening to him.

He said some of the people in the community who support the tower stayed away from the meetings because they were afraid of what the anti-tower crowd might say or do to them.

“I don’t think anybody should threaten anybody,” he said. “I don’t threaten them. They should not be threatening us. This is supposed to be a civilized conversation that we’re having. That’s why we have these open meetings . . . It’s truly not fair to put yourself out in public life and try to do the best you can and have people threaten you, and I’m not sure what she is capable of.”

Pearson said he values his job and the responsibility that comes with it.

He said even though he knows the monopole has made some people unhappy, he thinks it will ultimately benefit those living in the area and is happy the funds the township will receive from the lease agreement will be used for things that will benefit the community as a whole.

“I always tell everybody that you have to think about all the people in the community,” he said. “Every time I appoint somebody on one of these boards, people come out from a certain area in the township and they always want to stick up for their one little area. I say that’s a great thing, but you also have to think about all the people in the township.”