SCARBOROUGH – A loosely associated group of concerned citizens in Scarborough has formed a new group on Facebook, called “Scarborough Families for the Responsible Placement of Cell Towers.”

The goal of the group, according to Elisa Boxer who created the Facebook page, is “protecting our health and property values from the documented impacts of cell towers in neighborhoods.”

The Facebook page asks residents to “help protect Scarborough’s residential areas from blight, lower property values and illness. Numerous studies show cell tower neighborhoods are sick neighborhoods, with cancer clusters and childhood leukemia the biggest risks.”

The page adds, “Right now, cell towers are only allowed in industrial areas, where they belong.”

In addition to the Facebook page, there is an online petition calling on the Town Council to reject a proposal currently on the table that would allow cell and wireless data towers to go up in more zones in Scarborough.

The petition, found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keep-scarborough-cell-towers-in-industrial-zones, states, “given that cell towers are controversial commercial facilities and given that greater coverage can be achieved through increasing the allowable height and co-locating multiple providers on a single taller tower, we petition the town to reject the ordinance that would allow them in residential areas and on private property and instead keep them in industrial zones.”

Scarborough resident Karen D’Andrea, who has signed the online petition and has also advocated against allowing cell towers in residential zones, said this week the group fighting expansion of where cell towers could be placed are not “anti-cell tower.”

She said, “We are not against cell towers, since all of us have cellphones. It’s about the proper placement. We just don’t want an industrial use in our residential neighborhoods.”

D’Andrea said that with more and more studies showing cell towers have adverse health impacts it just makes sense not to allow them in residential areas.

At its meeting on July 16, the Town Council asked the Ordinance Committee to narrow the number of new zones where cell towers would be allowed, and Council Chairman Richard Sullivan said he expects the new cell tower rules to come back to the council for a final vote on Aug. 20.

– Kate Irish Collins