The Cobb County Board of Education approved a contract with T-Mobile to erect a 150-foot cell tower at Eastvalley Elementary School even though the neighbors are adamantly opposed and have filed a lawsuit to stop it.
The Thursday night vote was four board members in favor, two against and one member abstaining.
T-Mobile has agreed to pay the school district $150,000 rent to put a cellphone tower on the school property for five years. The contract can be extended for a second five years for another $150,000.
Also, the Eastvalley Elementary Parent Teacher Association will get $5,000 “contract consideration fee” once the deal is completed, according to the proposed agreement.
And if the company sublets any of the tower, which can accommodate up to three wireless providers, the school district will get another $800 a month.
The vote Thursday was the second time the board approved the agreement.
The board voted unanimously in favor of the tower on July 23 but a court issued a temporary restraining order because proper notice was not given that the matter would be put to a vote.
The second vote was to comply with the state’s Open Meetings Act notice requirements.
“This is a slap in the face of the whole community,” Ricky Welkis, one of the three residents who filed a lawsuit to stop the tower, told the Marietta Daily Journal. “This community’s been wronged.”
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