Pleasant Hills neighborhood fights proposed Verizon cell tower

PLEASANT HILLS, Pa. (KDKA) — Residents in Pleasant Hills are against a Verizon cell tower being built in their neighborhood.

The company wants to build the 100-foot tower on Tel Star Drive. Resident Ashley Malley started a petition that has already collected 100 signatures.

"We did that due diligence of going door to door to see which people were against this because Verizon is pushing down our throats," she said.

The petition was presented to the borough's planning commission on Tuesday during a meeting. The commission sided with residents and unanimously recommended that the borough council denies approval for the tower in May when it's voted on.

Last summer, Verizon received zoning approval, and now it is going before the borough for approval.

Neighbors told KDKA-TV's Mamie Bah that the company also wants to build another tower less than a mile away in Jefferson Hills.

Verizon provided KDKA-TV with a statement: "To support the growing demand, it's often necessary to build new wireless facilities where customers want and need to use our service. Verizon follows all applicable city, state and federal laws and permitting requirements as part of its network build process."

"Everybody that signed this our service is being affected. I live right here. I have great service. I don't believe that's true." resident Mike Amantea said.

KDKA-TV has learned that Verizon plans to meet with residents before the vote.