Home | Community | Tamarindo negotiates towers’ location

Tamarindo negotiates towers’ location

20 May, 2011 04:15:00 By Marisol Arias M

This telecommunication tower is located at Villareal Photo By Marisol Arias

• CLARO and residents of Tamarindo exchanged views on business development in the area.
• Santa Cruz Municipality adopted the Regulations for the installation of antennas.

The Association for Improvements in Playa Tamarindo (APMT) and the Mexican telecommunications company CLARO met last April 18^th in Tamarindo to know the position of the local organization and CLARO’s plan on the location of towers and telecommunication infrastructure in the area.

APMT had requested the meeting to the company in order to negotiate the conditions regarding the location of new telephony towers in the community.

The neighbors’ concern resulted from an ad that circulated in the area to which THE Tamarindo News had access, and in which CLARO informs on its services and communicates about the installation of a 60-meter-tall tower in town. "For us to provide an excellent service with good coverage in telecommunications, we need the most suitable areas for CLARO to place its 34-to-64-meter-tall antennas and offer a quality service," it reads.

The ad continues: "These towers meet the world’s highest safety standards and conform to Costa Rican standards of construction, such as the Seismic Code... When building the towers in this area, we will take all the measures necessary to reduce noise impacts, dust, visual impact and solid waste."

According to Gabriela Valenzuela from APMT, the community wants to participate actively in the discussion of the location of the towers to prevent them from adversely affecting Tamarindo as to health, safety and scenic beauty – aspects that must prevail in a highly tourist area.

"We sell a tourist product and we must defend it. Our key products – sun, sea, beach, nature – are the reason for a tourist to fly on a plane and pay to come," she said.

"We can have development but it has to be sustainable. There are regulations in every country. Here, they are mild. We request the minimization of towers," she said.

Valenzuela explained that the meeting was possible after several efforts of APMT asking for CLARO’s representatives to listen to their requests of locating towers in high places like roofs of buildings.

Oscar Duran, SIRTEL Operations Manager (CLARO Costa Rica) said to THE Tamarindo News that, "We would like to find solutions and come to agreements, listen to opinions and not to impose anything. If someone has a better suggestion, we are ready to analyze it."

"Most firms use the popular phrase, "It is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission," but we want to do the opposite. We want the community to know that our aim is development and everyone’s welfare," he said.

In addition, Durán says that when they locate a tower, it is because they have all the permits required to prove that the location does not threaten human health and adds that there are many myths as to this regard.

"We have all the corresponding permits. We have the land uses in compliance with SETENA (National Environmental Technical Secretariat), Civil Aviation, the Municipality and the Ministry of Health; we have all the building permits. Everything is in order. We did not start anything without permission," he said.

The community of Tamarindo has held similar talks with the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), who set up antennas in the area in 2010.

According to Valenzuela, in a matter of 36 hours, a Chinese company installed a 60 meter tower in an ICE-owned land located near Hotel El Milagro. This company has signed an agreement with ICE for the installation of these structures across the country.

The location of the tower upset the neighbors, who, without receiving prior notification, were surprised by the "giant neighbor."

"The value of our properties is severely affected. The sea view has been hampered; there are other ways to make towers. It’s matter of sensitivity," said Jürgen "Jogi" Gerner, resident of Tamarindo.

Given this first record, the APMT approached ICE in March 2010 to reach an agreement on a possible relocation of the towers.

The meeting was attended by technicians, environmental managers, radiofrequency experts, lawyers, engineers, residents of the affected area, and the environmental manager of the Municipality of Santa Cruz.

"There is a commitment to reach agreements for the benefit of the community in terms of the coverage required and the tourist product. The negotiation continues with ICE; we will present the possibility of relocating the towers," said Valenzuela. The community plans to place the antennas on the roof of a building where it would be possible to locate all the companies in one same place with all the possibilities of installation and operation.

We attempted to obtain a statement from ICE, but by the end of this edition, we had not received any response.

ICE has in Tamarindo two telephony antennas: one in the area of Villarreal and one in Huacas. Most of these are located in lands of its property.

The imminent arrival of the telephone companies to the area is part of the process of market opening decreed in October 2007 as a result of a referendum on the FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with the U.S. and the creation of a new Telecommunications Law adopted in 2008.

Carolina Mora, press officer of the Telecommunications Authority (SUTEL), who is the technical advisory body on the matter, confirmed that the location of the towers is a local municipality matter.

"It's not up to us to define the location of the towers. This is completely local autonomy. If the municipality needs technical criteria, its official can come to us for advice," she said. Jorge Chavarria, Mayor of Santa Cruz, confirmed to THE Tamarindo News that the Municipality Council recently approved a law to regulate the installation of antennas in Santa Cruz, and it is in the process of being published in La Gaceta. Sixty municipalities and district municipal councils have endorsed an initiative presented by several municipalities, members of the Federation of Metropolitan Municipalities (FEMETRON). This group has ratified a regulation to standardize the permits in regards to the location of these antennas in their cantons.

"The municipalities were quite concerned for the potential visual pollution due to the invasion of towers that nobody wants to have in front of his or her house. The landscape of the city was going to be affected," said Juan Antonio, FEMETRON Executive Director.

For instance, the regulation allows all the towers to be installed in one same building. The minimum height to place the towers would be 30 meters. Vega explained that the process required is known as D1 form on environmental feasibility, which is granted by SETENA. They are requested to present a proposal of good environmental practices, too.
MINAET (Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications), SUTEL, Federate Association of Engineers and Architects, and the private sector involved (installers of towers) provided the municipalities with technical support during the drafting stage of the regulations.