Staff photo / Dan Pompili St. Mark’s Victory Lutheran Church, at Mill Creek Drive and Glenwood Avenue in Boardman, is the site of a new Verizon cellphone tower. Some nearby residents say the tower will be an eyesore, bring down property values and possibly affect residents’ health and nearby wetlands.

BOARDMAN — Some residents are opposing a cellphone tower going up in the township, which they say will negatively impact a historic district.

Officials said the project has cleared all requirements and will cause no ill effects to residents or property.

The Verizon tower is set to be installed on property belonging to St. Mark’s Victory Lutheran Church on the corner of Mill Creek Drive and Glenwood Avenue. The project is being managed by North Star Towers, and some of the work is being completed by McCarthy Systems in Poland.

A representative for McCarthy said little more than some asphalt removal has been completed so far, and the company is awaiting materials before construction can begin.

Roger Miralia lives nearby — the tower will be about 500 feet from his home — and said he does not see a need for the tower with two others within a half-mile. He also worries about the effect on property values, residents’ health and nearby wetlands.

“It’s about 100 feet from a house in the historic district, and it faces an area where all the historical homes are,” he said. “I’ve been talking to some of the neighbors, and we’re concerned because it could knock property values down by as much as 20%.”

The church is surrounded by three historical districts: The nearest is the Newport Village Historical District, and Mill Creek Park and Forest Glen Estates are not far away.

Boardman Zoning Inspector T.J. Keiran said townships have no regulatory authority over cell towers unless they are on residentially zoned property or are going to be within 100 feet of a residence.

Otherwise, the towers are subject only to state and federal oversight.

Keiran referred to Ohio Revised Code, section 519.211. – “Limits on township zoning power for telecommunication towers.”

“The state doesn’t want townships to have regulatory authority over these towers, or they’re at least limited,” he said.

Keiran said some additional limitations are imposed when they might affect historical districts, but those also are not within the township’s purview. He said church properties are often exempt from certain regulations, and that is why mobile companies favor them.

“I think what you’re finding is that communications companies are finding churches for their towers because they know they don’t want to be on residential zoned property, and that way it provides a small stipend to that church,” he said.

Miralia said St. Mark’s is supposed to receive an annual subsidy for hosting the tower on its property but a representative of the church could not be reached to confirm that or comment on the tower.

Keiran said in December 2023, he was asked to comment on the project for a Section 106 review by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office. Such a review is conducted when there is federal funding, licensure or any other federal interest involved in a tower’s construction. The review is a necessary part of obtaining a federal permit.

Keiran said he noted that the proposed tower is within the view of the Newport Village Historic District, which became part of the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Neil Thompson, manager of media and public relations for the Ohio History Connection, of which the Historic Preservation Office is a part, said the section 106 review was triggered because federal licensure from the Federal Communications Commission was required for the antennas on the tower.

“We reviewed it (in December 2023) but we can only comment on its effects upon historic resources,” he said. In this case, that would be the historic districts themselves. “Nothing stood out as concerning or detrimental.”

Thompson said even if something had, it would necessarily — or even likely — have been sufficient to stop the project. He also said that towers being erected in historic districts is not uncommon.

Keiran said a geotechnical report was conducted and submitted as part of the county permit application. However, The Vindicator was not able to reach the Mahoning County Building Inspector to obtain a copy of the report, so this article cannot address Miralia’s concerns about the nearby wetlands.

Miralia said the tower is being built on what he worries is unstable ground, where the park road comes close to the creek.

“The sidewalk is collapsing there and the railing is falling in, and the creek is only about 20 feet away,” he said. “The construction company said they’re going to put some struts in there so that it will be supported, but I don’t know how good that will be.”

As for health concerns, Keiran said there is little information that can be obtained.

“The FCC has issued guidelines on radio frequency radiation emissions, and those guidelines prohibit local governments from considering the health effects of cell towers in zoning decisions,” he said.

While the International Agency for Research on Cancer considers radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as “possibly carcinogenic,” both the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute conclude that available scientific data does not suggest a causal link between the towers and cancer in humans.

Keiran said Miralia is not the only resident to call about the tower, but unless it falls directly within the narrow confines of the authority the state affords townships, there is nothing Boardman can do to address those concerns.

“If it’s not within 100 feet of a residence or going on a residential property, we have no authority to address it,” he said.