Poland Township trustees voted Wednesday night to reverse its decision to install a cell tower on township property.

The original vote at the May 14 meeting was to approve a cell tower in the back of Township Hall between Kerrybrooke Trail and the Poland Seminary High School property.

At the township meeting, trustees had already heard from residents opposed to the tower. Opponents packed Township Hall for the meeting and were eager to hear the topic.

“We started to look at the (proposed) cell tower both financially and logistically,” Trustee Eric Ungaro said. “It is not going to happen, at least not under this board.”

He said the original resolution was to allow for a cell tower on the township property. Since it was done in a public meeting, Ungaro said the proper way to reverse that decision would be to rescind the May 14 resolution.

Ungaro held a vote on the matter. Trustees Ed Kempers and Joanne Wollet voted with Ungaro to rescind.

One concern from residents at the meeting was over transparency. Kerrybrooke Trail resident Donald Dixon said he did not hear about the proposed cell tower in advance.

“I learned about it when I saw people walking the property where it was supposed to be placed,” Dixon said.a

Ungaro replied and said the cell tower company was supposed to send out flyers to neighboring residents, which he said didn’t happen.

Dixon also was concerned about revisiting the issue down the road.

“I don’t want to be back here in six months,” he told trustees. “Maybe we can put zoning restrictions in place or prohibit towers within 1,000 feet of school property.”

Trustee Joanne Wollet said those who want to get involved with township zoning should consider a position with the township’s board of zoning appeals or zoning commission. She said this is where such cases would have to start.

Another Kerrybrooke Trail resident, Brian Finnerty, spoke on property values and said properties where cell towers can be seen lose 10% of their value. He also mentioned the danger of microwaves.

“Does anyone really want to conduct a six-year experiment on their kids regarding what cell tower microwaves can do,” he said.

Prior to closing out the topic during Wednesday’s meeting, Ungaro again stated the cell tower idea was dropped and “will not happen.”