As work resumed Tuesday on the Cingular cell tower Tuesday at 319 Mt. Holyoke after the company’s voluntary stay, residents continued their effort to halt the project, which they say is too imposing and unsightly for a neighborhood. The antenna and attendant equipment are attached to an existing utility pole under an operating agreement which allows mobile cell companies to piggyback on an existing telephone pole in an administrative procedure that provides no regulatory restraints. Unhappy with this ‘loophole for cellular companies,’ Mt. Holyoke residents have appealed to the City of L.A. and the Palisades Community Council to support their fight. Last Friday, Art Navarro, Cellular’s public relations officer for greater Los Angeles, told Mt. Holyoke resident Andy Dintenfass that ‘the company’s intent was to move it and that Cingular was looking into five other locations.’ The Verizon installer who was working at the Mt. Holyoke site, near the bluffs, told Dintenfass that ‘the size and five-mile range of the Mt. Holyoke installation is unusual for a neighborhood; they’re mostly found along highways.’ Meanwhile, Cris Armenta, lawyer for the homeowners, researched the law governing these installations within the Coastal Commission jurisdiction and discovered that Cingular had ignored the commission’s regulations. According to Pam Emerson, supervisor for regulation and enforcement for the L. A. County Coastal Commission, the commission allows a category exclusion for additions to an existing public utility structure unless the company adds more than 10 percent to the height or bulk of the tower. If the limit is exceeded the company can petition the commission for an exclusion. ‘In this case we could find no evidence that they [Cingular] had come to us or written a letter,’ Emerson told the Post. ‘If they write us a letter, I would then refer it to our enforcement person, who would investigate the size and scope of the project. Even if we eventually disagreed with the placement of the equipment, they could unbolt it and carry it to somewhere else.’ Although the opponents have characterized the antenna apparatus as ‘large and ugly, an aesthetic and emotional encroachment,’ the proliferation of similar cellular sites continues. Palisadian Lisa Deni told the Post this week that several months ago ‘Cingular installed a large suitcase-sized box to a power pole’ on her property on Las Pulgas Rd above Sunset. ‘Then came the power meter with its own address and the cooling fan that hums 24/7, which can be heard from the backyard.’ ( See Letter to the Editor, page 2.) With the desire for improved cell phone coverage increasing, the challenge to balance ever-changing technology with the beauty and integrity of neighborhoods will continue. ‘Just because the cellular companies are under tremendous market pressure from their consumers to provide a seamless network of cell sites quickly,’ attorney Armenta said, ‘that doesn’t mean that they can ignore the legitimate concerns of the residents, the jurisdiction of the Coastal Commission and their obligation to protect and preserve the California coastline.’
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