Without comment, the county Board of Appeals voted last night to permit installation of a cellular telephone antenna in Ellicott City that opponents fear will send out harmful radiation to their homes and a nearby school.
The board also denied a request by the county's only Orthodox synagogue to teach first-graders.
The request was opposed by residents of Columbia's Sebring neighborhood where the synagogue is located.
In the cellular phone tower case, the board voted 3-1 to approve a zoning exception for a 125-foot tower proposed by Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems Inc. for its Cellular One phone system. The tower is scheduled to be built off Rogers Avenue near Patapsco Middle School.
Representatives of Southwestern Bell were pleased by the decision.
"What's important here is that there's no harm here. This tower's safe," said Julie Rosenthal, a spokeswoman for Cellular One. "We're not hurting anyone and we're providing a valuable service for the county."
Patti Mackey, president of the Waverly Woods Elementary School PTA, said she was "very disappointed" with the board's decision.
"They didn't discuss at all the concerns that we had," she said, referring to fears that prolonged exposure to radio waves emitted from transmitters on the tower might be harmful to schoolchildren and others in the area.
Opponents' views were echoed by board Chairman George Layman, who lost a bid to represent the area on the County Council last month.
"I don't think the safety factor, with [the tower] being that close to a school, was met to my satisfaction," Mr. Layman said of his vote against permitting the tower.
He also noted that his nephew would be attending the school in the future, and said, "I wouldn't be able to face him if it turned out to be a health and public safety concern."
During the board's Nov. 1 hearing, a radiation scientist testified that radio frequency energy from the transmitting antenna would have a "negligible" effect on students and area residents.
But opponents countered that while there was no evidence of danger, Cellular One could not prove there would be none.
Anne Litecky, one of the organizers of the opposition, said that when the answer was known, it would be too late. "If and when the towers are deemed unsafe, what are we going to say to the children? Are you going to say, 'I'm sorry'?"
A fifth member of the board was absent from the meeting, but his vote alone could not change the outcome of the case.
The board's decision will be final after members sign a written decision, probably within several weeks.
One of the factors that could have influenced the vote was a 1991 Circuit Court reversal of one of the board's denials of a cellular tower. That decision by Judge James B. Dudley said the board could not deny a zoning exception for a 190-foot tower in Elkridge because of "vague and unsupported fear" that the structure would hurt efforts to expand a nearby environmental preserve.
No first grade
Voting on the synagogue case, all four board members agreed that the board's 1989 approval of a zoning exception did not permit the congregation to offer first-grade instruction.
Neighbors have complained that the Lubavitch Center for Jewish Education had gone beyond what was permitted under the exception, which specified that the center could provide pre-school classes.
The county Department of Planning & Zoning asked the board to clarify its original ruling to determine whether first grade could be considered part of pre-school.
Rabbi Hillel Baron, who runs the school, has said the principle of religious freedom permitted the classes, but the board disagreed last night.
Its decision will also be final upon the signing of a written decision.
Violates exception
The 24-student religious school has only two first-graders, but members of the 30-year-old Sebring Civic Association, which represents about 70 households, argued that their instruction violated the exception permitting the religious facility to operate.
In reviewing the exception, board members noted that zoning regulations allow for schools with first-grade classes, but the Lubavitch Center had not asked for that as part of the 1989 exception.
This is not the first time the civic association has opposed the center.
When the Jewish group first asked for permission to operate, members of the association, including now-Planning Board Chairwoman Joan Lancos, fought the request.
The Planning Board was not involved in the current case.
The Orthodox congregation is the only Jewish congregation in the county that has its own synagogue building. More than 40 families attend its Saturday services.