Restore the 1942 Tannery Bend Water Tower/Take Down the Cell Antennas

In 1996, without an environmental assessment, the City of Napa allowed a prominent, historic local landmark, the 1942 water tower at the Tannery Bend, to be turned into a cell tower.

There are currently 33 AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile antennas on the tower, which include 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G antennas. (The City gave the green light for T-Mobile to activate its new 5G antennas on February 9th of this year.) Here is a nine-minute video demonstrating the wireless radiation coming from the tower.

The owner of the property is Leslie Rudd Investment Company, located in Kansas and owner of Press restaurant in St. Helena as well as several wine and beverage companies. Leslie Rudd Investment Company is profiting by leasing the water tower to telecom companies at the Napa Abajo neighborhood's expense.

In this recent Napa Valley Register article entitled, "Here's the story behind some of Napa's familiar sites," a spokesperson for Napa County Landmarks stated, "The tower is on the city's historical resources inventory list. Also, it gets the star treatment in the city's development guidelines for the Tannery Bend area."

We ask that the owner restore the water tower by ending its lease with these wireless companies, improving the health and charm of this historic property and neighborhood as well as the safety, monetary value and enjoyment of our homes and businesses.

To prevent this from happening to another neighborhood, we also ask the City of Napa to update its telecommunications ordinance to implement a 1,640 foot setback from homes, schools, and businesses per the recommendation of the New Hampshire Commission on Evolving 5G Technology that recently studied this issue.