Interference by City Council puts Lindero cellphone tower on hold

The Agoura Hills City Council will appeal the planning commission's approval of a cellphone tower at Lindero Canyon Middle School. The appeal is set for 7 p.m. Wed., April 22 at City Hall.

The structure would include three, 35-foot-high antenna flag poles, each fitted with two antennas, according to a representative of OmniPoint Communications Inc., a subsidiary of TMobile Wireless. An 8foot masonry enclosure would encase the six groundmounted equipment cabinets. The OmniPoint spokesperson said the wireless facility is needed to improve the company's mobile phone coverage in an area that is not adequately served.

The Las Virgenes Unified School District owns the property and approved a $60,000per-year contract three years ago. The city was still required to give its stamp of approval since the site will be used for commercial purposes.

Councilmember Dan Kuperberg said at the March 11 City Council meeting that the cell tower warranted further review since planning commissioners had only grudgingly approved the new facility based on their interpretation of federal laws, which don't allow consideration of whether radio frequency (RF) emissions pose a health threat to children and the neighborhood.

"It looks like (the cell facility) is 80 feet from people's homes," Kuperberg said. The Federal Communications Commission has outlawed cell towers in residential neighborhoods, but since the school is a government agency, different rules apply, he said.

Kuperberg suggested a review of the issue by a city/ school committee because he said the school's parent faculty club and Principal Ron Kaiser were never consulted.

Under Federal Communications Commission rules, OmniPoint was only required to demonstrate that other locations for the cell tower had been considered and that they would heed advice from commissioners on aesthetic issues, such as landscaping to obscure the concrete structure.

In 2000, Los Angeles Unified School District banned cell towers on school properties because of the ongoing debate on whether RF emissions have negative health effects on people—especially children.

Los Angeles County resident Sally Hampton has stalled the installation of a TMobile cell tower near her home. Although T-Mobile is appealing the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning's denial of a new tower, Hampton believes the decision will stick.

"I expect to prevail before the L.A. County Board of Supervisors because the local zoning law does matter," Hampton said in a statement to The Acorn. "And the burden of proof is on T-Mobile to justify need, and if they can't they lose in a court of law."

The issue of need was addressed by the Agoura Hills Planning Commission. OmniPoint representatives said the new cell tower would lift the company's coverage from minimal to moderate. However, many residents near the school who are T-Mobile customers deny having any problems with dropped calls.

"We have so many antennas in urban areas now that it would be nearly impossible for them to prove that a denial would prohibit service," Hampton said. "The federal law and the courts have defined significant gap in such a way that dropped calls or small areas of poor service do not count. They cannot trump local zoning laws to provide seamless service, which many engineers would tell you isn't really possible anyway."

Councilmember Harry Schwarz asked City Attorney Craig Steele to provide more information during the appeal.

"I'd like to find out legally what we can really do," Schwarz said.

"Maybe it's perfectly legal— perfectly right," Kuperberg said of OmniPoint's right to build a cell tower at the middle school. "I have more questions than answers right now."