Agoura Hills hangs up on Lindero cell tower

Campus antenna voted down


The Agoura Hills City Council voted 4-1 last week to deny a cell tower at Lindero Canyon Middle School, despite a contract signed earlier between the phone company and the Las Virgenes Unified School District that permits an antenna on the campus.

Rina Baraz Nehdar and Deborah Lopez, residents of Agoura Hills, launched the fight against T-Mobile and presented arguments against the antenna during two public hearings with the city and at a meeting with the school board.

The opponents said children are vulnerable to health risks posed by radio frequency emissions from the antenna. The city, however, could not deny the application based on health issues because the Federal Communications Commission previously said that the RF waves from cell towers are not harmful to children.

Municipalities can only consider location and aesthetics in their decision to accept or deny a cell antenna application, but under current law, if T-Mobile could prove they had a coverage gap, then they’d be entitled to the installation.

Jack Unger, a consultant for the city, said T-Mobile indeed had a coverage gap in the Lake Lindero area. But Unger also said a water tank site at Woodglen and Ridgebrook drives in Agoura Hills would provide better coverage than the middle school site.

Robert Wheaton, a T-Mobile spokesperson, said the water tank site might be suitable for another carrier in the future, but not for T-Mobile now. He said the company already spent much time and money on plans for the Lindero Canyon location. T-Mobile earlier agreed to pay the school district $60,000 a year for permission to use the Lindero campus.

T-Mobile had planned a three-pole cell antenna at the school, but when neighbors balked, they downsized their plan to one antenna.

“Eighteen months or two years ago we would have looked at (the alternate site),” Wheaton said. “We don’t think it’s viable due to the existing (zoning) ordinance. We met all the requirements set by the FCC and changed the design voluntarily.”

The water district site is owned by Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which might not agree to lease the land for a cell tower, Wheaton said. In addition, zoning at the site does not allow for an antenna, although the City Council said it could change the zoning if T-Mobile agreed to move its tower there.

Councilmember Harry Schwarz was baffled that T-Mobile wouldn’t pursue a site that offered better coverage.

Wheaton said T-Mobile needed a “bird in the hand,” because after spending resources to investigate a new location the company might find that it wasn’t appropriate.

Agoura Hills resident Mary Ann Rush presented a petition signed by 60 residents in favor of the antenna at the school. She told council members that the state budget crisis has hit the school district hard and that the cell tower income is needed.

In a letter to Mayor Denis Weber, Las Virgenes Unified School District Superintendent Donald Zimring said, “The massive budget cuts initiated by the state has resulted in a $13 million annual loss to our district and this community. This project will generate $500,000 during the life of the contract and help protect the quality of education offered to students in our schools.”

Weber cast the only vote in favor of the school antenna site.

“I don’t think the school board would allow something detrimental to children (on school grounds),” he said.

“This group has instilled fear that kids will get cancer and die, and they will not,” Rush said.



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