Cell Towers

Faced with providing service for ever more data-hungry cellphones, telecommunications carriers are in a nonstop race costing billions of dollars to boost the capacities of their networks. To handle the heavy volume of video, music and Web pages that smartphone users are downloading, office buildings, strip malls, condominiums, schools, churches and just about every other type of structure - including water towers and freeway overpasses - are being pressed into service as cell signal relay stations, or cell towers.

AT&T officials showed off the company's stealth cellular antenna site Tuesday near the In-N-Out restaurant on Harvey Drive and said more sites are on the horizon - a signal of what may be to come as service providers seek to boost their capacity to handle the increased data demand of smart phones. The so-called stealth cell sites, masked to resemble trees or hidden inside flag poles, could ease their proliferation into dead zones where cell phone signals are weak. Efforts to do so in residential neighborhood have been met with strong resistance on aesthetic grounds and fears of unknown health risks.

CRESCENTA VALLEY — A 60-foot cellphone tower will be built at a Crescenta Valley church after getting the green light from the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning Tuesday. Despite concern from the Crescenta Valley Town Council, Omnipoint Communications Inc. — a subsidiary of cellphone service provider T-Mobile — can now build its tower at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, which sits within 100 feet of homes. The Town Council sent a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last month asking that the county abide by a policy it wrote in April 2002 that requires cell towers be at least 100 feet from residences and at least 500 feet from any school, including day-care centers.

CITY HALL — The City Council tonight is expected to extend a moratorium on cellular towers in residential neighborhoods for another year. The current moratorium, which was put in place to quell protests from north Glendale residents over a proposed T-Mobile antenna in the city’s right-of-way, is due to expire June 24. Attorneys were directed to come back with a draft ordinance that would establish a citywide policy for handling neighborhood...

CITY HALL — City officials will continue to craft a citywide policy for residential wireless micro-cellular sites after the City Council on Tuesday extended a moratorium on the equipment for another year. The moratorium was put in place to quell protests from North Glendale residents last year over a proposed T-Mobile antenna in the city’s right-of-way and allow time for revised regulations. The ban was set to expire June 24, but city officials said they needed more time to craft the new policy.

LA CA—ADA FLINTRIDGE -- The city is going to keep fighting to salvage its law regulating cell towers along its roadways, despite a decision last week by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that gutted portions of the ordinance. City officials announced Wednesday that they will seek a rehearing before the appeals court, which ruled on Jan. 17 that La Cañada Flintridge cannot regulate the placement of cell towers on public property based on aesthetics. The city's attorneys have until Jan. 31 to file a petition for rehearing.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — T-Mobile is withdrawing its application to build a cellular antenna on the 500 block of Cumberland Road in response to strong residential opposition, company representatives said Thursday night. The announcement was made at a community meeting with neighbors of the planned “micro-cell” site in the city’s right-of-way. Residents’ complaints about the project prompted the City Council in January to impose a 45-day moratorium on cellular facilities in residential zones to allow time for a draft policy to handle future applications.

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?

I’m writing today to implore Glendale residents to come out and offer feedback on the city’s new draft wireless ordinance. In October 2008, I was home with a sick daughter when I noticed a group of contractors and city employees spray-painting the street in front of my house. Along with several neighbors, I quickly discovered that a 35-foot cell tower was days from being constructed five feet in front of my home. From there, a handful of local neighbors formed a community group called GO ACT, or Glendale Organized Against Cell Towers.

Faced with providing service for ever more data-hungry cellphones, telecommunications carriers are in a nonstop race costing billions of dollars to boost the capacities of their networks. To handle the heavy volume of video, music and Web pages that smartphone users are downloading, office buildings, strip malls, condominiums, schools, churches and just about every other type of structure - including water towers and freeway overpasses - are being pressed into service as cell signal relay stations, or cell towers.

AT&T officials showed off the company's stealth cellular antenna site Tuesday near the In-N-Out restaurant on Harvey Drive and said more sites are on the horizon - a signal of what may be to come as service providers seek to boost their capacity to handle the increased data demand of smart phones. The so-called stealth cell sites, masked to resemble trees or hidden inside flag poles, could ease their proliferation into dead zones where cell phone signals are weak. Efforts to do so in residential neighborhood have been met with strong resistance on aesthetic grounds and fears of unknown health risks.

CITY HALL — The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to more strictly regulate where and how cellular antennas are built in residential neighborhoods, a response to homeowner concerns that the equipment is unsightly and pulls down property values. The regulations take effect in 60 days and cap a yearlong process that started when north Glendale residents successfully organized against a proposed T-Mobile micro-cell site. Antennas and cell towers will be vetted through a tiered system in which cellular equipment proposed for residential areas or in an unattractive form would face a more intense review process, including a requirement for telecommunications companies to prove why they’re needed.

CITY HALL — The City Council tonight voted unanimously to more strictly regulate where and how cellular antennas are built in residential neighborhoods, a response to homeowner concerns that the equipment is unsightly and pulls down property values. The regulations take effect in 60 days and cap a yearlong process that was sparked when north Glendale residents successfully organized against a proposed T-Mobile micro-cell site. Antennas and cell towers will be vetted through a tiered system in which cellular equipment proposed for residential areas or in an unattractive form would face a more intense review process, including a requirement for telecommunications companies to prove why they’re needed.

The council introduced a set of regulations for local cellular antennas, setting the stage for a final vote next week. Officials have spent more than a year crafting the regulations. The council first introduced a moratorium on all cellular antenna applications in response to a T-Mobile proposal for the 500 block of Cumberland Road that prompted residents to organize an opposition campaign. The proposed regulations — which greatly increase city oversight of the antenna’s placement — take a tiered approach in which cellular equipment proposed for residential areas or in an “unattractive form” would face a more intense review process.

CITY HALL — The City Council next week will review the final draft of regulations for local cellular antennas — capping a lengthy process sparked by a controversial cell tower planned for a north Glendale neighborhood. Officials have spent more than a year crafting the regulations. The City Council first introduced a moratorium on all cellular antenna applications in response to a T-Mobile proposal for the 500 block of Cumberland Road that prompted residents to organize an opposition campaign.

CITY HALL — Draft regulations on cellular antennas won’t keep them out of residential areas, stakeholders told the Planning Commission on Wednesday. Telecommunications representatives, who say the so-called micro-cell sites help meet consumer demand, have often locked horns with residents, who argue that the unsightly equipment pulls down property values and may pose a health threat. But Monday, they agreed on one thing: The city’s attempt at regulating the antennas would do little to stop their proliferation.

CITY HALL — Residents spoke out for extra protection of residential areas, while wireless-industry professionals stressed the need for flexibility at the first of three input meetings on a draft ordinance meant to regulate the placement of cellular antennas in Glendale. The ordinance, if adopted in its current form, would require carriers to not only prove why they need to place their antennas at desired locations, but to also apply for permits and possibly face Planning Commission approval.

I’m writing today to implore Glendale residents to come out and offer feedback on the city’s new draft wireless ordinance. In October 2008, I was home with a sick daughter when I noticed a group of contractors and city employees spray-painting the street in front of my house. Along with several neighbors, I quickly discovered that a 35-foot cell tower was days from being constructed five feet in front of my home. From there, a handful of local neighbors formed a community group called GO ACT, or Glendale Organized Against Cell Towers.

CITY HALL — In the latest chapter for local control over micro-cellular towers, the City Council on Tuesday voted to join a coalition of cities nationwide to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to allow more leeway. The move comes as the wireless industry also pressures the federal government to exempt carriers from local zoning ordinances, a key source of contention in cities where residents have complained of the aesthetic impacts and possible ill-health effects of cellular antennas in their neighborhoods.