No saving 'Grace:' Protesters oppose cell tower on Fairfield church property

Dozens of people turned out Sunday morning to protest a cell phone tower proposed behind Grace United Methodist Church as worshippers attended services.

But the church's council later Sunday voted to enter into a lease with AT&T so the wireless carrier can move ahead with plans to erect the controversial tower behind the church building at 1089 Fairfield Woods Road, according to a statement from the Rev. Kun Sam Cho, pastor of the church.

"This was a difficult decision and one which the council took with the greatest of care," the pastor said in the statement on the Fairfield Grace website. "I pray that we all will continue to show concern for one another and respectfully accept the decision that was made."

Cho had declined to comment to the media immediately after Sunday's 10 a.m. service, but said a statement would be released after the council's vote.

Several protestors who assembled in front of the church property, carrying placards to promote their opposition, said Cho came out before the service to greet them and shake their hands.

Krissy Dorn of Woodridge Avenue, one of the protestors outside the church from around 9 a.m. to noon, said the tower would be 100 feet high atop a 50-by-50-foot base, and within 250 feet of Fairfield Woods Middle School, Jennings School, the church's preschool and Child Link, a preschool in Jennings School. She said a total of about 1,200 children attend those schools and that a state law says cell phone towers -- because of health concerns -- should not be erected within 250 feet of schools or day-care centers, although that can be overridden by the Connecticut Siting Council.

"First and foremost are concerns for children's health and safety. Having radiation emissions near our children for eight hours a day for 10-plus years is a long time for them to be exposed, especially since they're young, developing bodies," Dorn said. She said Fairfield Woods Branch Library, where many children attend programs, also would be within 250 feet of the tower's proposed location on the church property.

Colleen Sullivan of Palamar Drive said a cell phone tower near 1,200 children "would seem to be in contrast to what our state statute says."

"There isn't enough research, and, in order to understand the effect of a cell tower on children's development, you'd need a long-term, longitudinal study on children," Sullivan said.

John DeMassa, who lives near the church, said he was a research chemist for 23 years and that substances introduced into the marketplace later have been banned because of their effects on health. "I see a lot of the cell technology as relatively new technology, and since it is, I think there are open questions," he said. "I'm not hysterical about it, but where there's doubt and where there's children, we ought to be very conservative about how we deploy this technology."

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No saving 'Grace:' Protesters oppose cell tower on Fairfield church property