HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - Broward County commissioners have voted 7 to 1 to take another look at the city of Hollywood’s preferred location for a new radio communication tower.
Resident Lisa Stingone said the roof of the Hotel Circ, where Hollywood wants to place the tower, is the best option.
“The Circ is not only a viable option, but a better option, because of not just safety concerns from the public communication system, but also because of hurricanes,” Stingone said.
Hollywood’s tower is the final link to the county’s 16 towers that will revamp the current communication system that caused problems for first responders during the shootings at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The decision came after the city of Hollywood said no to the West Lake Park tower location.
“There’s been studies on RF, electromagnetic radiation that comes from the towers, and it is incredibly bad, especially for small children,” resident Anne Melby said.
County commissioners will bring in yet another expert — with the city of Hollywood’s approval — to look at the Hotel Circ and West Lake sites. The expert will then pick the best site.
However, Broward County Commissioner Michael Udine disagreed.
Udine said, “Why would we delegate all this power away — all this expertise away — to an independent expert that nobody’s ever met now that just is gonna come out of the blue and now is gonna be responsible for the backbone of the entire public safety apparatus from the county? I don’t think that’s a smart way to do it.”
The expert will look at each location’s reliability, signal strength and cost.
“I don’t believe we should pay any more money than it would cost us at West Lake,” Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness said. “I don’t want to pay another penny.”
Udine, the only dissenting vote, said the latest legal compromise is just wasting more time.
“This is something that needs to be done and done quick,” he said.
Udine proposed using Hollywood’s waste water tower as the new site for the tower.
“It’s another option. It’s an option that works,” he said. “We know it works. Our experts have said it worked. There’s already a 170-foot tower there right now. We simply take that one down, put a new one up. It seems logical, it seems easy, and it’s the way we can get it done.”
Hollywood city commissioners will decide Wednesday if they will revisit the issue.
If not, litigation is inevitable.
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