Concerned about the proliferation of cell-tower installations in residential neighborhoods, the Pacific Palisades Community Council unanimously passed a motion last Thursday to ask the city to change its regulations. ’The city is exercising little, if any control,’ said Council Vice Chair Janet Turner, who drafted the motion with Council members Jack Allen, Chris Spitz, Barbara Kohn, Bill Davis and Peter Fisher. The Council argues that the zoning code imposes requirements such as public notice and hearings on the placement, design and construction of cellular facilities on private property (as well as a few public properties) through the conditional-use permit process. However, these requirements do not apply to installations of cellular facilities on public right of ways such as residential parkways. ’The Council objects to the regulatory process involving public right of ways and urges that the same or similar regulations that apply to the installation of cellular facilities on other properties be required for the installation of such facilities in the public right of ways,’ according to the motion. To install a new pole on the public right of way, cell companies must apply through the Above Ground Facility (AGF) Ordinance, said Jeff La Dou, a management analysis administrator for the L.A. Bureau of Engineering, which oversees the AGF application. In that process, the cell companies must notify nearby residents, who can appeal to the Board of Public Works. Cell companies can also make arrangements to use an existing utility pole in the public right of ways under the Joint Pole Agreement, a written contract between Southern California municipalities, utilities, cable companies and telecom providers allowing them to share the use of an existing utility pole. In that case, they are exempt from the permitting process and do not need to notify residents. Sometimes, cell companies will replace a support utility pole with a much taller pole. The new taller pole is defined as existing because an additional pole was not added to the street, La Dou explained. If cell companies want to install a new pole on private property, they have to apply for a conditional-use permit through the L.A. City Planning Department, La Dou said. Cell companies have to fulfill landscaping and visual requirements. Residents are notified and there is a hearing process. The Council is asking that the same city agency oversee all cell-tower installations. The Pacific Palisades Residents Association (PPRA) also passed a motion on July 13 asking that the L.A. Office of the City Attorney be directed to review the regulations pertaining to the installation of all cell towers and ‘that consistent with the city attorney’s recommendations the city enact a comprehensive new ordinance with clear and consistent standards and procedures regulating all wireless telecommunications facilities in the city and providing protection to communities and residential neighborhoods to the fullest extent possible under the law.’ Spitz, who serves on the PPRA board and actively fought a cell-tower installation near her home on Friends Street, said she strongly supports the motion. ’I believe that Los Angeles is in need of a comprehensive new ordinance with consistent and clear regulation of all cellular facilities in the city and specific protections for residential neighborhoods to the fullest extent provided by law,’ Spitz told the Palisadian-Post. ‘On the other hand, as a member of the Community Council, I also support the Council’s motion, which is complementary to the PPRA motion and attempts to deal with an important piece of the larger puzzle, namely regulation of cellular facilities in the public right of ways.’ The Council and PPRA both asked the city to place a moratorium on cell-tower installations until the issue can be addressed. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, representing District 11, first submitted a motion in September 2008 asking the city attorney’s office to review the AGF Ordinance following the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to uphold San Diego’s limits on placement, size and design of cell towers. The court’s decision gave him hope that the city could exercise greater control over the aesthetics and placement of cell towers. The motion was deferred to the City Council’s Public Works Committee, which recently asked the city attorney to review all of the city’s cell-tower regulations on both public rights of way as well as private properties, said Norm Kulla, Rosendahl’s northern district director and senior counsel. ’We need to have a regulatory scheme that is consistent and reasonable,’ Kulla told the Post on Tuesday, adding that the city attorney’s office is meeting with the various city departments to develop a comprehensive plan that gives residential communities more protection. ’We have lots of good ideas,’ Kulla said, noting the Palisades community has taken the lead on this issue. ‘We just need to pull it together.’
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