RECAP OF ALL THREE 5G TOWER PROJECTS
Updated: Aug 9
Three Wireless Tower Projects in the Bald Hill and Clear Lake Area — Our Community Needs Your Help
Residents of the rural Yelm, Bald Hill and Clear Lake areas are now dealing with three separate wireless tower projects:
Penn Lane, Hobson Road, and Clearwood community/Clear Lake.
Each project has its own permit record, site conditions and procedural history, but together they demonstrate why residents need to pay close attention to wireless infrastructure applications throughout our rural community.
The goal is not to prevent legitimate public review of improved telecommunications service. It is to ensure that every project receives the complete environmental, land-use and procedural review required by law, and that residents have a meaningful opportunity to participate before decisions become final.
1. Penn Lane — Bald Hill
The original project that brought our community together is the proposed wireless tower at:
18227 Penn Lane SE, Yelm, WA
Residents organized, reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, submitted comments and worked to protect public participation in the County's approval process.
The Penn Lane project eventually raised major questions concerning the public hearing process, environmental review, wetlands, County wireless regulations and the use of federal telecommunications shot-clock rules.
Our work on Penn Lane demonstrated something important:
Residents need to become involved early, preserve the administrative record and obtain qualified legal assistance before critical appeal deadlines expire. We raised a Land Use Petition Act against Vertical Bridge and are currently in court, Vertical Bridge contest that we served the parties too late, we are contesting that they never informed the public of their decision in the first place. Since the Special Use Permit got issued without a public hearing, even if our LUPA does not go through, we can still bring a federal lawsuit claiming that this violated our first amendment, our right to petition our government.
Support the Penn Lane effort
2. Hobson Road
A second major wireless facility is now proposed at:
21601 Hobson Road SE, Yelm, WA
The proposal includes an approximately 180-foot multi-tenant tower, equipment compound, diesel backup generator, significant access-road work, utilities and fiber construction.
The application record raises questions concerning wetlands, wetland buffers, drainage, access-road construction, clearing and grading, utility infrastructure and consistency among the various application documents.
Read the detailed Hobson Road article
Support the Hobson Road legal effort
3. Clearwood Community / Johnson's road
A third wireless facility is proposed on Weyerhaeuser timberland near Bald Hill Road SE and Weyerhaeuser Truck Road SE, close to Clearwood and Clear Lake.
The current proposal includes approximately:
a 150-foot monopole plus 5-foot lightning rod;
nine AT&T panel antennas;
a 50-by-50-foot equipment compound;
a 30-kilowatt diesel generator;
six fiber vaults; and
approximately 2,750 feet of utility and fiber trenching.
The application record identifies a wetland approximately 275 feet north of the tower, wood-duck priority habitat, additional possible wetland features along the access route, steep slopes and potential landslide-hazard issues.
These circumstances require careful evaluation under Thurston County's critical-area and wireless-facility regulations.
Read the detailed Clearwood / Clear Lake article
Support the Clearwood / Clear Lake legal effort
Why three separate fundraisers?
Although these projects affect neighboring communities, each permit is a separate land-use proceeding.
Each can require its own:
attorney review;
administrative-record analysis;
environmental review;
written comments and objections;
expert consultation;
public-hearing preparation;
SEPA analysis;
administrative appeal; and
potentially judicial review.
Keeping the legal efforts identifiable by project also allows residents and donors to support the location that concerns them most.
How you can help even if you cannot donate
Financial contributions are important, but they are not the only way to help.
Residents can:
Share these articles and fundraisers with neighbors.
Ask Thurston County to add you as an interested person and party of record.
Review the permit files and applicant submissions.
Submit factual written comments before deadlines.
Attend public hearings.
Document wetlands, drainage, wildlife habitat, roads and other relevant site conditions from lawful locations.
Watch for revised plans and new applications.
Tell neighbors who live outside the County's mailed-notification radius.
Thurston County confirms that new monopoles or towers requiring a Hearing Examiner Special Use Permit follow a Type III process involving public notification and a public hearing.
Public participation is most effective before the administrative record closes, not after construction begins.
Learn about the EMF and health concerns raised by residents
Land-use, environmental and procedural objections should be documented on their own merits. Federal telecommunications law limits what local governments may regulate based specifically on RF emissions when facilities comply with FCC requirements.
At the same time, members of our community have asked for access to scientific studies and publications concerning long-term exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields.
We have collected many of those materials here:
The article collects scientific papers and advocacy materials concerning RF-EMF exposure; those sources should be evaluated individually, since scientific and regulatory conclusions regarding health effects remain contested.
Three projects. One community.
Penn Lane. Hobson Road. Clearwood community/ Johnson 's road.
These projects may be separate applications, but the fundamental principle is the same:
The community deserves notice, access to the complete record, meaningful public participation, careful environmental review and compliance with the law before irreversible construction occurs.
Please share this information with residents throughout the Bald Hill, Clear Lake, Clearwood and greater Yelm area.
Support the three community efforts
Hobson Road : Help Protect the Bald Hill Community
Clearwood community / Clear Lake: Help Protect the Clear Lake Area
Information about EMF concerns:Uncovering the Health Risks of Cell Tower Radiation in Yelm
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