In the face of parent and community opposition — including the Board of Friends of Sligo Creek concerning ecological impacts on the adjacent woodland — the PTSA and then the principal withdrew their prior support, and subsequently T-Mobile withdrew its petition for a "special exception" to the Montgomery County zoning code in order to allow construction of a cell-phone tower on the grounds of Sligo Middle School. The county Board of Appeals dismissed the T-Mobile application as withdrawn on July 13; it clarified on September 14 that the dismissal was "with prejudice" (that is, with restrictions on re-filing), with the effective date of resolution as October 20, 2011. From Laura Mol, steward, Dennis-Windham section (8L)

THE PROCESS
The application (#S-2795) is a request for a "special exemption" from the R-60 residential zone of that part of the Sligo watershed. The Board of Education, owning the school property, is a co-applicant with T-Mobile; the Sligo Middle School will receive $1,000/month for the lease of property.

There was a public hearing on the application in February. The file of the application, with its various documents of approval and all correspondence from citizens, is now about 4 inches thick. Although the process and rules of procedure are on the MoCo website, the application itself is not available on-line but can only be read at the Rockville office of the Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings. The application has already been approved by M-NCPPC – both Planning and Parks sides.

After the record closes at 5P on Monday, March 28th, the Hearing Examiner has 30 days to issue a recommendation to the Board of Appeals (still on the legislative side of the County government, not judicial despite the name). For ten days following the Hearing Examiner's recommendation, parties of record – people and organizations who have already put themselves on that list by March 28th – may apply to give "oral argument" to the Board. Their request to be heard may or may not be approved.

Marker shows proposed tower location

As a steward of the Dennis-Windham section (8L) and a long-time Weed Warrior in that area, I see these issues:

• The wooded edge has long been actively eroding because of run-off from the courts and playing fields uphill, so that the 12 feet of level, un-eroded ground needed for the proposed access road does not even exist along part of the proposed length
• Construction damage to mature trees, including those presently holding the slope, would be considerable and further erosion from the slope into parkland inevitable
• The presence of advanced bittersweet invasion makes proposed "landscaping" plans untenable, and the disturbance of construction would further advance the invasion into Sligo woods
• The beauty of views of the Sligo Park trees would be intruded upon from various perspectives, both within the park and without.

Back to top

Update by Laura Mol, April 13, 2011

Opposition–from residents, neighbors, and people within the Sligo Middle School who were getting new information about the potential problems of the proposed cell-phone tower–apparently tipped a balance: both the parent-teacher association and the principal of the school reversed their earlier positions.

• From: Lisa "2N" Feldmann; President of the PTSA, Sligo Middle School
  Date: Thursday, April 7, 2011, 7:35 PM

  Parents, Based on the input of PTSA members, the PTSA executive committee tonight informed Mr. Rhodes that the Sligo Middle School PTSA could NOT support the installation of a cell phone tower at Sligo MS.

• From: SLIGO MIDDLE SCHOOL
  Date: Sunday, April 10, 2011, 7:00 PM

  Greetings Sligo Community, this is your principal, Jeff Rhodes, with my weekly connect-ed message.
  Communication Cell Tower
  Regarding this issue, I informed our Superintendent that after earnest research, investigation and reflection, I could not support the installation of a communication cell tower on Sligo MS's Campus.

Based on the experience of other Montgomery County schools who have struggled with this issue, the recommendation of the principal has always been accepted by the superintendent, so one assumes that the school system's co-application with T-Mobile will effectively be withdrawn. Advocates in opposition to the tower will continue to be watchful until a full resolution is certain. For now, we wait with much interest to see what the Hearing Examiner will make of the large file on the application for a special exception; her official recommendation to the Board of Appeals is due for announcement by April 28th.

Back to top

Update by Laura Mol, April 28, 2011

The director of Montgomery County Facilities Management sent a letter dated April 14th to John Polletto, a neighbor who had written several letters opposing the placement of the tower. Mr Song's letter said that "our staff has evaluated the views and concerns of the [Sligo Middle School] principal, P-T-S-A- and community, and T-Mobile's request to install a monopole at Sligo Middle School has been denied." The MCPS policy to which Mr Song refers in his letter can be found at www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ecn.pdf.