Weaponization of the "Shot Clock"

The public hearing that was supposed to be held on Tuesday 26th of August for the application of new 5G tower in the Bald Hill area in Yelm did not happen.

In total stupefaction, all of us that were ready to voice their concerns were turned away after the Director of Planning and Economic development Ashley Arai told us that the applicant had invoked the "shot clock" rule and that the application was automatically approved: FCC 2018 Declaratory Ruling that establishes shot clock provisions.

Send your questions and concerns against this weaponization of the federal rules to Ashley Arai - Ashley.Arai@co.thurston.wa.us - Director of planning and economic development and rachel.grant@co.thurston.wa.us- county commissioner for Yelm unincorporated. We need to know why they did not appeal to this "shot clock" rule while we gather to resist this unfair ruling.

Of course this raises a plethora of concerns - the timing is extremely suspicious - this shot clock could have been invoked 2 months ago (150 days after the initial application notice) - why was it announced on that day during the hearing ?

It looks and smells like a weaponization of this FCC rule to silence the people. From day one, we assisted to a series of lies, the county said when they initially sent the application notice that we should not worry as we will have plenty of opportunities to testify and voice our concerns and questions. The result was that beyond that we had no platform to voice our concerns. There was only a meager paragraph in the staff report for the public hearing that mentioned the public comments and they downplayed our concerns - did not answer them in a meaningful way. What were the answers about the false propagation map simulations ? What about the wetlands located outside of the property in the 1000 radius (Thurston county wireless ordinance prohibit installation in places where there are wetlands in a 1000 radius same for Bird staging areas or rookeries). The county did not even reply to the update requested to the radiation measurements of the other 9 antennas that they want to install on other towers in the area.

We need to bring the county and Vertical Bridge LLC to the federal court for silencing we the people in weaponizing the "shot clock" rule depriving us from our public opinion. https://www.givesendgo.com/No5GinTheBaldHillArea

Normally a court has to make a ruling about the "shot clock" decision - Mrs Arai did not provide any lawsuit case number. If there is one, why was it not shared at the meeting on Tuesday.

The County can obviously challenge the applicant in reaffirming that they are not procrastinating but just following the regular process. Already the county made a final decision without any input from the public when they determined that did not need an environmental impact statement and filed a mitigated decision of non significance (MDNS). This MDNS did not address any of the environmental concerns regarding the impact to the wildlife. Worse, when we checked on their website for any issued permits, we discovered that the special use permit had been granted the day before the public hearing was supposed to happen. Also the building permit was issued on the day afterwards. 

It has become clear that the county and the telecommunication companies are afraid of our testimonials and appears to be working in lockstep to use any shortcuts available to install those hideous towers without our consent. We need to bring the county and Vertical Bridge LLC to the federal court for silencing we the people in weaponizing the "shot clock" rule depriving us from our public opinion. We are already in contact with lawyers that ask a retainer between $2500 and $5000 (as a proof of funds) to start the lawsuit, please donate at https://www.givesendgo.com/No5GinTheBaldHillArea