NOCATEE, Fla. — It's the little red balloon seen around Nocatee, and it's causing a stir amongst people living in the Kelly Pointe neighborhood.
It marks where a proposed 5G cell tower could go.
If you live or work in the area, you’ve probably noticed spotty cell service.
Those living closest to the proposed site say they aren't against a cell tower, just not where it's proposed to go.
“Our children will be playing in the shadows of a cell tower," Kelly Pointe neighbor, Elizabeth Kelly, said.
“It's a 170-foot tower, it's 240 feet from our properties," neighbor Jennifer Kennedy said.
“If you're standing in front of my house, it looks like the chimney in my house, basically," another neighbor, Jeff Wettschurack, said.
Neighbors call the tower an eyesore and harmful to property values.
“Knowing that someone's taking away, that kind of money from me, is something I just can't stomach," Wettschurack said.
The developer marked the potential location with a red balloon, land that is in Duval County.
It’s asking the city of Jacksonville for an exception. Right now, the tower the developer wants to put in is too close to nearby wetlands.
“We need to explore other options to see if the cell tower can be relocated elsewhere or not," District Councilmember Raul Arias said.
Arias said the developer would be able to put a tower designed like a pine tree without an exception, but he said that type of tower is not allowed in Nocatee.
Wednesday, he held a community meeting where neighbors asked questions to the developer.
“There still needs to be more time for the neighbors to actually explore more questions to be answered. And in this case, we decided to just defer it and the applicant was okay with that," Arias said.
Neighbors like Kelly and Kennedy don’t want it because of potential health hazards.
The World Health Organization says research shows no adverse health effects have been caused by wireless technology.
But few studies have been carried out at the frequencies used by 5G.
“Do we want to subject our children to that? Have them be the guinea pigs, where they could have problems 20 years down the road?" Kennedy said.
The next scheduled meeting for the cell tower project is Aug. 22 where it will go before the planning commission.