Activist’s cell tower protest decamped
Local man’s effort to stop construction at Shady Side Elementary halted instead
Local activist Mike Shay’s plans to halt the construction of a cell tower at Shady Side Elementary were stalled after Anne Arundel County police were called and asked the group to leave the premises. Shay said his group was at the store, and the campwas taken down while hewas gone.
Police were called to Shady Side Elementary Tuesday for reports of a group camped out near the school grounds. Shay and other volunteers had set up a camp early in the week of Oct. 5, sending a press release detailing their opposition to an incoming cell tower thatwould include cutting down trees. Several schools in Anne Arundel County have done similar projects.
Shay is the president for South Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development and a local activist who focuses on the environment. He also ran for delegate in District 30B in 2018.
Shay and his organization opposed the county’s approval on Sept. 28 of a grading permit to construct the 114-foot Monopole cell tower, itself approved by the Anne Arundel County school board. South Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development has appealed that decision with the Maryland State Department of Education and Anne Arundel County Planning and Zoning.
“The reason for the encampment is to show the school board that they need to let the dust settle and let these appeals workup the system,” Shay said.
Shay began his encampment early last week in the hopes of stalling the tower’s construction and protecting the nearby trees. Shay and others who oppose the tower want it built elsewhere and for the school system to protect the land and use it for education or other uses. The encampment included an American flag, a tent, a small table, signs and other items.
Shay’s camp made its way to social media, which eventually made its way to the principal of Shady Side Elementary, who called the police last Tuesday. Officers visited the camp, spoke to people at the
campsite, and then both the group and police left, Sgt. Kam Cooke said.
Shay told The Capital hewas at the store with his group when police got involved. He said he believes the school system and police escalated the situation and someone took his camp down and some items were taken while they were gone. Cooke said he did not know of any items being taken.
Michelle Corkadel, president of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education, said the project is moving in accordance with the site lease master agreement that has been in place since 2012. Corkadel said she and the board recognize and respect the decision of the community group to oppose the construction.
A long term discussion within the Anne Arundel Board of Education has been going on since 2017 on the proposed project. In May, the school board voted to approve the tower.
Since January, the county looked at four locations as alternatives to the elementary school, which were at Shadyside Park, Jack Creek Park, a boat launch site, and a dredge site, according to site documents.
After an analysis of the sites, county officials considered Jack Creek Park and Shadyside Park to be the “most viable,” in a statement read out during the meeting in May.
But the two sites are protected land and would require additional cost, time and labor. For those reasons, the county would not pursue the sites.
Shay believes the county never should have considered school grounds for the tower. Anne Arundel instead should ban building cell towers on school grounds.
“This three-year fight to keep a cell tower out of the elementary school has been one of the toughest fights we ever been in,” Shay said.
Randi Williams, a neighbor of the elementary school, has proposed to the board numerous times other options they could use in the area of the tower. Williams would like it to be an Outdoor Wildlife Learning space.
“They need to use that space for education first, not develop it,” Williams said.
Towers have been built at Broadneck High School, Annapolis Middle School, Corkran Middle School, the Center of Applied Technology North, Hebron-Harman Elementary School, Magothy Middle and Severn Middle complex. A tower was also built at the school district’s central office.