This author received some lessons on NEPA public participation from a wealthy Oahu neighborhood; "Lanikai" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by jparise
I conducted National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews for cell phone towers in my first environmental planning job. One of my first environmental assessments (EAs) was straightforward from a paperwork perspective. The project would place antennas into rock cliffs and paint the antennas the same color as the cliffs. One of the project permits required an EA. Thus, the EA was to be conducted more as a technicality than with any expectation of significant environmental impacts.
Our team sent project notifications to neighboring property owners per the Hawai'i Environmental Policy Act, the state's version of NEPA. The project was located in a wealthy neighborhood, making the adjacent property holders private homeowners. Our team did not anticipate the neighborhood's roar of objection since we usually dealt with commercial owners.
We quickly realized that the residents were angry about the project because they needed more information. The project's lead engineer organized a neighborhood meeting where we addressed their concerns. We provided more information on project timeline, cell phone antenna safety, and installation methods. We then organized a public project site to discuss the layout in more detail. Residents gained trust in the project team following the two meetings.
Visit our "What is NEPA?" page to learn more about NEPA public participation and the three levels of compliance.
The successes and lessons learned of this story are outlined below.
