Did you know the 300 Club, a private swim, pickleball and tennis facility in northwest Gainesville is currently in talks with NexTower to enter into a 50-year lease for a 162-foot cell phone tower on their property? That’s 16 stories high on land that for 42 years was zoned for conservation. In 2023, the 300 Club fought hard to have their seven acres re-zoned for recreational use, for the express purpose of creating an entrance to their club from NW 38th Street. The access drive never materialized.

Did you also know that there are four schools within a one-and-a-half-mile radius of the 300 Club and three of these schools, Littlewood Elementary, Westwood Middle, and Gainesville Christian Community School, are less than half a mile away? So is Albert Ray Massey (Westside) Park, one of Gainesville’s busiest public parks. Seven daycare centers and preschools operate within a 1.5-mile radius of the 300 Club – nearly three thousand children, learning and playing next to a massive cell phone tower.

Schools are places where children should be able to learn, play, and grow in a safe, low‑risk environment. Allowing cell towers to be situated on or immediately adjacent to school property contradicts this basic principle and prioritizes telecom companies’ profits over children’s health.

In addition to health concerns, close proximity to towers can lower property values, create visual blight, and increase community anxiety about safety and well‑being. Locating a 16-story cell tower within densely populated areas like Libby Heights, Skyline Heights, Westmoreland Estates, Suburban Heights, Golf Club Manor and Bartram Woods would set the precedent that building massive cell towers near established Gainesville neighborhoods is acceptable practice.

In 2025, the 300 Club site was evaluated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to verify if the height of the tower would meet the federal obstruction evaluation standards to not disrupt airspace (reference: Aeronautical Study Number (ASN) 2025-ASO-17295-OE). The site was also registered as a future antenna site on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website on January 2, 2026 (reference: (FCC Antenna Site Registration ASR 1332106). The next step is for the 300 Club leadership to give NexTower the green light to build on their property and for them to file a permit for City approval to rezone the land.

The 300 Club is private property, but this permit request means they will be asking the City of Gainesville to break the current codes on the height limitations for structures in our neighborhoods. They are asking to break the zoning laws in our neighborhoods to rezone from recreation to a special use permit.  None of us chose to live in this area so we could sit in our yards and stare at telecommunications infrastructure. Nor did we choose to send our children to these schools in order to expose them to potentially harmful radiation. We chose to live here because it is a caring and happy place.

Parents, neighbors, and members of the 300 Club who care about our community: Sign this petition and let the 300 Club and NexTower know we don’t want their tower.