CELL ANTENNA WEBSITE UPDATE

On June 5, 2024, T-Mobile activated the cell phone antennas located at the Rock Church. These antennas comply with all local, state, and federal safety standards and are similar to the ones already in place all throughout San Diego. However, there is some debate on whether cell antennas are harmful or not, so the Rock Church and Academy have outlined below the mitigation plan.

Below is an overview of Rock Church and Academy’s mitigation plan.

First, we officially contracted with EMF/RF Solutions out of Carlsbad. This company specializes in RF testing and RF shielding materials. They took baseline RF measurements on May 9th to record RF activity before the antennas are activated. They are also advising us on proper RF shielding materials to prevent, as much as possible, RF waves from the antennas from impacting our campus.  Additionally:

Extra Inside Safety Measures

1. The Rock’s nine-inch-thick walls already prevent most RF waves from entering the building. This is why cell service is so bad here. 
2. To mitigate any low levels of RF, we will be installing metal-based window tinting on the sides of the building where the antennas are located (north & east walls).  This may impact cell service. 

 Outside Measures 

1. There are no antennas on the west side of our building, so no RF waves from the new antennas should reach the Rock park and playground that are in the back of the campus. 
2. In the front of the campus, where the Early Education Center/Rock Kids playground is located, we have engaged a contractor to add additional shade structures with copper meshing over the
   EEC playground.  While the antennas completely comply with all local, state and federal safety standards, the copper shielding will reduce RF levels caused by the new antennas on the playground.
   (Copper is one of the best ways to block RF). We are finalizing plans and the contractor expects to complete all work within the next three to five weeks.  
3. We are also looking into adding a shade structure with copper mesh to the north side of the building, covering the new outdoor weight-lifting area.

Testing

1. EMF/RF Solutions  have measured RF levels before the antennas were activated.  We will continue to track RF levels to optimize all of our mitigation measures. 
2. We have scheduled EMF/RF Solutions to test the new RF levels on Monday, June 10. 
3. Since the engineering properties of these antennas are a known quantity, and there are proven engineering solutions to effectively diffuse RF waves, we are confident that the measures taken will ensure little to no impact to Rock Church and Academy.

We also had two independent RF engineers review the specific antennas that T-Mobile installed and they reported the following to us:

1. The antennas comply with all city, state, and federal RF safety standards.
2. The antennas installed do NOT use high-frequency 5G milliwatt technology. 
3. The antennas are one-directional, not omni-directional.
4. The RF waves travel away from the building, not towards it.
5. RF waves from these antennas do not bend around corners.
6. Minor “backspray” will come toward the building at the location of the antennas (the technical term is  the “back lobe” or “side lobe”).  
7. The height of the antennas will cause the RF waves to travel over Truxton & Womble Streets on the East & North sides of the building, and over the parking lot on the South of the building.
8. No RF waves will reach the West side of the building where the back playground is located, as there are no antennas on that side. 

This report gave us solace that the RF waves coming from these particular antennas should have little to no impact on our specific property. They are one-directional and we are behind them, not in front of them. Therefore, we have a high degree of confidence, given the engineering data, that these antennas will cause little to no impact to our students and staff while on campus.  Nonetheless, we still plan to do everything possible to mitigate any impact caused by the antennas. The safety of our community is paramount to us.  

Background

During the COVID pandemic, the Rock Church and Academy began discussions to lease a portion of the roof of the Point Loma Campus building to T-Mobile for cell phone antennas. These antennas are similar to the ones already in place all throughout San Diego. Based on the due diligence analysis and permit approval from the City of San Diego, we did not foresee safety or structural issues that could harm our community.

As the antennas were being installed, several Rock Academy families approached us with concerns of school children being around cell antennas throughout the day. In February 2023, the Rock Church and Academy leadership held meetings with the Rock Church and Academy parents and staff to discuss the antennas and address concerns and questions. We also informed the Rock Church congregation about the antennas during Sunday services in March 2023. We realized that it was a mistake to sign the contract without first having a discussion with staff and parents and we sincerely apologized, and apologize, for the stress that this has caused. While there is plenty of debate on whether cell antennas are harmful or not, based on the feedback we received, in March 2023 of last year, we decided to try and negotiate with T-Mobile to have the antennas removed from our property.

Over the past year, on multiple occasions, we have offered to negotiate an end to the contract and have the antennas removed.  T-Mobile declined our offers.  We provided two alternative sites within Liberty Station for T-Mobile to relocate the antennas, and expressed our willingness to even pay some of the relocation costs. Despite these efforts at significant cost to the Church, in January of this year, T-Mobile sued the Rock Church and Academy in order to gain access to the property so they could activate the antennas. In March, T-Mobile filed an injunction which would allow them to immediately access the property and resume activation of the antennas while the lawsuit proceeds. In April, a judge ruled in favor of T-Mobile, giving them full rights to access the property and activate the antennas. Unfortunately, T-Mobile will not relocate the antennas and has activated them effective June 5, 2024. 

As a result, Rock Church and Academy are moving forward with a mitigation plan to prioritize the safety of our community.