Public Meeting Addresses Cell Nodes Safety Concerns

Representatives from NewPath Networks met little resistance to their plan in Oakton at a community meeting Monday.

As Ed Donohue, of the law firm Donohue & Stearns and representative for NewPath, explained the need for DAS in the Vale community area, the six residents in attendance peppered him with questions about safety and sustainability in the 90-minute meeting.

Gregory Tully, managing director of infrastructure development for Network Building & Consulting, and Bob Ritter, manager of land use with Crown Castle, were on hand to help Donohue answer questions.

The nodes would provide broadband antennas that can accommodate any wireless carrier, allowing for greater wireless coverage and capacity in the area. AT&T has hired NewPath, a subsidiary of Crown Castle, for the Oakton project. The nodes are built where existing utility or light poles stand.

Though some showed skepticism about the Environmental Protection Agency's measurements for determining energy safety levels, the residents left satisifed with NewPath's technology, which Donohue said far exceeded safety requirements.

"I just want them to make energy measurements to make sure. I'm fairly certain it'll be fine," said Gene Cross, a retired engineer. "I just want to make sure they have more than just geometry [distance a person stands from the cell nodes] to determine the safety levels. There's duration and other factors that should be considered."

After a request from Cross, Ritter agreed to have NewPath test an existing cell node site to determine its energy density measurement and share the information with residents.

Donohue's presentation focused on the need for DAS in the area, showing AT&T coverage gaps and predictions for increased data usage.

"The simple fact is the success of the wireless business, the success of the smartphones and apps that all of our kids and grandkids are downloading, are putting a tremendous strain and challenge on the network," Donohue said. "The data is really what's driving DAS in many locations. In Oakton, it's a coverage and capacity issues, but data is one of the real drivers here and all over."

Donohue presented the following statistics on the increase in data usage:

• Between 2005 and 2006 wireless devices increased in use from 3.1 million to 21.9 million
• Wireless subscribers increased from 195 million in 2005 to 263 million in 2008 (35%)
• Text messages/year increased from 57 billion in 2005 to 601 billion in 2008 (954%)
• Multimedia messages/year increased from .3 billion in 2005 to 5.6 billion in 2008 (1875%)

In 2008, Pew Research Center estimated mobile devices will be the primary Internet devices for most people in the world by 2020.

NewPath could not provide a prediction for how long these cell nodes would provide quality coverage and capacity because of technology's unpredictability.

"The DAS was built as a robust system to deal with the data explosion we're experiencing," Donohue said. "We can't predict any sort of life span but we're building to expect growth."

Donohue said NewPath will host another community meeting a few weeks before the public hearing, which has not yet been scheduled. NewPath is predicting an October community meeting and a November public hearing.

Planning Commission has final say on the application. It does not require approval from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

The preliminary plans place cell nodes at the following approximate addresses:

To view a map of the approximate locations, click here.