A request to install a cell phone tower on top of a commercial structure at 5680 Sawtelle Blvd. has drawn opposition from a group of nearby residents who are mostly motivated by health concerns.

Several addressed the Culver City Council on Dec. 14 and spoke out against Cash N’ Carry’s application for a permit to construct a T-Mobile tower.

“My daughter is expected to spend the next 15 to 16 years of her life 200 feet away from this,” said Bryan Tjomsland, citing radiation that would be emitted from the tower as a primary concern.

Tjomsland is one of the forces behind www.stopsawtelletower.com, a Web site that keeps interested residents up to date on the latest developments in the matter.

Other residents complained of the proposed site’s proximity to El Rincon Elementary School, which is only a few hundred feet away.

“There is a definite health concern that I have for my family to be so close,” said Nicole Mueler, a mother of three.

In an interview with The Wave, Cash N’ Carry owner Dan Israely said his motivation for pursuing a cell phone tower on the roof of his business was strictly motivated by money.

The eight-foot tall antenna — he uses the term antenna because he doesn’t believe its height warrants the label of tower — will bring in $2,000 a month in revenue.

But he added the extra earnings won’t be going to his pocket: it is to keep the business afloat so that his six employees can hang onto their jobs.

“One is a single mother, one is a person who has a very sick wife, another one has a sick wife with two children, and one is a young fellow who is supporting his mother [by] working,” he said. “So it’s a matter of life and death for quite a few people.”

Israely said there is no health risk and that the only person who might be exposed to radiation would be himself.

“If anybody is going to be hurt by radiation, it will be me because I’m sitting right under it, six or eight feet from it, everyone else is hundreds of feet away from it,” he said.

Tjomsland and his fellow neighbors are also in a race against time, because the 15-day public comment period for the proposed cell phone tower ends Dec. 28.

Israely has the authority to extend the comment period if he wishes, but does not appear inclined to do so.

“I think they had plenty of time, the city is very aware of the concern, they are aware of them, there is no need to expand it, everyone is aware of it,” he said. “They made plenty of noise that won’t change anything.”

Stop Sawtelle Tower has published a number of press releases, including one that details what the organization views as the dangers posed by cell phone tower radiation.

“In the future the danger will become a fact of life like smoking and lung cancer (which also was challenged by the scientific establishment until 1964), but by then we will be lucky to get even an apology,” the release read. “Unless we mobilize as a community to prevent the building of this tower, we will expose our children to potentially severe health risks.”

But putting the brakes on such a project goes well beyond the power of the city council.

The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits local municipalities from stopping the installation of cell phone towers.

“Our hands are tied even if we wanted to,” said Mayor Andrew Weissman.

However, local governments can enforce some restrictions, and Culver City officials are further researching the matter and weighing various options.

For example, Weissman told The Wave that caps on height can be regulated by zoning rules.

During the Dec. 14 council meeting, Community Development Director Sol Blumenfeld said that “aesthetic considerations” could come into play.

Other cities, like Glendale, have taken more aggressive steps by adopting wireless ordinances that require service providers to submit documents explaining why they want to construct a new tower, among other prerequisites, before being granted a permit.

Israely said the proposed antenna won’t even be visible from the street level because of his building’s height, and that representatives from T-Mobile are working to ensure the antenna is aesthetically pleasing.

A number of cell phone towers are up and running throughout Culver City, such as one at the Culver Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard intersection and the one atop the Studio Village Shopping Center, which is directly across the street from Cash N’ Carry.

Said Weissman: “Nobody has ever raised a concern about that one.”