02/13/2026
TOP 5+ REASONS SOUTHPORT COMMUNITY NEEDS TO STAND TOGETHER TO HALT THIS TOWER!!!
1. It violates the character of our community.
The Southport Community is a unique South Anchorage community of 750 homes (many more with Bayshore), homes all governed by strict height limits, protective covenants and all utilities underground.
Why should homeowners be bound by strict standards while a utility company installs a structure no resident would ever be permitted to build?
2. Homeland Security upgrades do NOT require a 65-foot tower (nor any tower at all).
Modern security and communications upgrades can be achieved through underground fiber and lower-profile infrastructure--solutions already being deployed at other substations.
A massive, overpowering tower is a choice----not a necessity.
3. There are modern alternatives (fiber is the future).
Fiber technology:
--- is more secure
--- is less vulnerable to wind and weather
--- has greater long-term capacity
--- does not create a permanent visual blight
If fiber is being deployed elsewhere, why are we being asked to accept a 1970s-style tower solution at the oldest substation built in 1976? We feel 21st-century infrastructure is called for---not outdated vertical steel.
4. Safety concerns at a busy, wind-exposed intersection.
The Campbell Lake substation sits right at a heavily used intersection with:
--- bike trails
--- pedestrian pathways
--- families driving children to nearby schools
--- strong wind exposure (guests exceeding 40-50 mph)
While it is rare, towers do fail. A 65-foot steel structure collapsing into a busy intersection would be catastrophic.
When public safety and children are involved, even low-probability risks deserve serious consideration.
5. Damage to health due to RF radiation, living in the shadow of a tower, has not been ruled out. There are many studies, depending on who is funding the study, that claim both scenarios: no damage to humans and serious consequences to humans.
6. Aviation risks to pilots.
The Municipality of Anchorage passed an ordinance about 8 years ago essentially stating "build it and they will come." The objective was to reduce the number of towers that were being built. The requirement is, if you build it, you must allow telecommunications companies to "co-locate," in other words, be permitted to hang their own equipment on the tower you just built. Each co-location adds from 25-30 feet in height to the tower. One co-location could put the new tower height at 95-feet. The FAA will re-evaluate the new height and may declare the tower a risk to aviation, thus requiring a 24 x 7, red blinking light on top. This proposed tower would be right across the street from Campbell Lake and less than 2 miles from Ted Stevens International Airport.
It goes without saying, we fully support the modernization to hardware, software and perimeter security--all the upgrades Homeland Security requires to "harden" the utility against bad actors.
But we want, most of all, for Chugach Electric to be a good neighbor like Fire Station 15---there to protect us but not be an intrusive eyesore that threatens property values.
We do not support unnecessary industrial structures that permanently damage the beauty, property values and safety of one of Anchorage's most carefully and thoughtfully developed community, over a decade as a planned unit development (PUD) with the Municipality of Anchorage.
Bottom Line:
Towers are forever. They are never taken down, even if they fall down, they are resurrected.
