The Hawaii County Fire Department received approval Friday to build an administrative complex in Hilo that may have a radio tower some neighbors fear would harm them.

Over the objections of a few area residents, the county's Windward Planning Commission issued the special permit needed to build the facility on state-owned agricultural land.

The 5.4-acre site is on the Hamakua side of the Mohouli Street extension, about midway between Komohana and Kukuau streets.

The project's $14.6 million first phase is to include an administration building to consolidate employees now housed at several locations, along with an emergency-dispatch center for use by both fire and police.

Currently, 911 operations are located next to the Central Fire Station in downtown Hilo. That site is within the tsunami-inundation area, which forces staff to move when there's a tsunami threat, Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira told the commission.

"Clearly, this is a project the community needs," said Chairman Rell Woodward.

But it's also one that could include a microwave radio tower between 90 feet and 125 feet tall, according to the department's proposal. The tower is needed for the combination fire and police emergency-dispatch center.

Tiffanie Wang Okuda, a Kukuau Street homeowner, said such towers emit electromagnetic radiation that's been linked to childhood leukemia, breast cancer and autism. Okuda offered research documents in speaking against the project.

"I think a tower like that should not be in a residential area," she said, noting that high wind can topple them.

The project site backs up to the Sunrise Ridge and Sunrise Estates subdivisions.

Fellow Kukuau Street homeowner Gerdine Markus claimed the "cancer-causing tower" will create emotional, mental and physical problems for neighbors.

Commissioner Takashi Domingo agreed with them, but was the only commissioner who did.

Domingo said he wasn't just afraid that the tower will harm neighboring homeowners. "I know it will," he stated.

Woodward then read part of a 1996 federal law barring government bodies from disapproving telecommunications towers solely "on the basis of environmental effects of radio frequency emissions." He cautioned members to follow that law.

"I guess the only thing worse than having a fire station in your backyard is having a fire in your backyard, and if you do, you want to have a fire station in your backyard," Woodward said.

Electromagnetic radiation from radio towers has not been proven to be a health risk, which is why there's no exposure standard, Newton Inouye, the state Department of Health's acting district Environmental Health Program chief, told commissioners.

Oliveira said he heard those safety concerns when he went "door to door" informing residents about the planned facility.

"We want to maintain a low profile and low impact in the community, but still meeting our needs," Oliveira said. "We want to be good neighbors."

He vowed to work with the community and the project's designers to minimize the tower's impact.

"I couldn't tell you if the tower is necessary (or) if one will be built," he said, noting design work is ongoing.

Oliveira said that while he's looking for federal and other funding needed to build the complex, money isn't currently available.

"So, it's not going to happen (soon) even if you approve the project," he told commissioners.

Still, the goal is to eventually include a center for classroom training, plus dormitories, a warehouse, fire station and museum, he said.

Domingo tried to remove the tower from the special permit, but his motion failed due to a lack of support.

"I think if we tie them up on this, the whole thing is moot," Woodward said.

Commissioners, however, did insert a provision requiring the department to make a "concerted effort" to work with the public and their consultants to address the safety concerns before seeking "plan approval."

That process involves the Planning Department reviewing and approving a project's layout or site plan before building permits are sought.

The commission then voted 4-1 to authorize the project and issue a special permit. Four is the minimum number of votes required to validate any action by the seven-member panel.

"Well, I must say we definitely gave it every consideration, so I think we did a good job," Woodward said.