Cell towers, coyotes, fundraisers top C.V. Town Council agenda

A new cell tower antenna planned to be erected on a structure on Foothill Boulevard is sending waves of frustration for the Crescenta Valley Town Council as council members deal with how to prevent what a federal government mandate protects.

A notice was recently received by the council in preparation for the scheduled 9 a.m. May 21 public hearing about the cell tower, to be held at the L.A. County Hall of Records, 320 W. Temple Street in Los Angeles.

Since the government has mandated that human health cannot be an issue used to fight cellular towers, and the city of La Cañada Flintridge lost an attempt to fight a different tower, based on aesthetics, council members spent a good deal of the April 17 council meeting debating what, if any, basis could be used to state the council’s objection to the new tower.

The tower, to be mounted behind new screens on the roof of an existing commercial building at 2540 Foothill Blvd., consists of 12 antennas and a global positioning satellite antenna.

“What happens when in 10 years of technology we don’t need all those [towers] and we’ve got a glut of cell towers,” Councilwoman Krista Smiley said, adding that recent information circulating about cellphone use and radiation causes her to wonder about the government mandate preventing health issues to be accepted as reasoning for limiting cell towers.

“We need to make a stance,” Smiley said.

The council voted at the Thursday night meeting to write a “letter of concern” based on the exorbitant number of cell towers already on the boulevard.

The council will review the wording of the letter at its executive committee meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m., May 1 at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff Station community room.

In other business, the council discussed dangers associated with coyotes roaming the streets, which recently has been identified as a problem in the area. “Coyotes are normally out from dusk to dawn, but [during daylight hours] they’ve been roaming the streets very bold,” Town Council Mayor Grace Andrus said.

“They act like a playful dog to get smaller dogs and cats to come out and then they eat them, so that’s not good,” she said, adding that it’s important for residents to make sure pet food and water is put away so the coyotes have less reason to roam yards. “They are a wild animal,” she said. “It’s not like a dog, you don’t want to pet it.”

Councilman Frank Beyt also provided information on the council’s new fundraising projects, including a monthly silent auction recently implemented on the council’s website: www.crescentavalleytowncouncil.org. The first item to be bid upon, in $25 increments, is a five-day Extreme Boot Camp certificate, which is valued at $500. The owners of Extreme Boot Camp donated five certificates to the council. Also available for bids on the website will be two all day ski lift tickets at Mammoth Mountain. Additional items will be added in coming months, Beyt said.

Beyt also gave an update on a barbecue fund-raising event planned for July 19 at Two Strike Park. Tickets to that event will be available for $10 each.