By Khalida Sarwari
Another marathon Saratoga City Council meeting over the appeal of proposed Verizon antennas resulted in yet another denial, but that didn’t stop residents from filling the chamber again to voice their dissatisfaction. At one point, some of them walked out in anger and frustration.
The council on Sept. 16 shot down an appeal of the planning commission’s decision earlier this year to allow the installation of nine panel antennas inside a 10-foot cupola on the roof of a classroom building behind the Saratoga Presbyterian Church on Herriman Avenue. While maintaining that they cannot make their decision based on health or safety, only on design and aesthetics, the frustration was evident on the faces of the council members–unlike the previous meeting on the subject last month.
“I, from the time that I started working on the planning commission, have been extremely frustrated as the years have gone by, too, with how the FCC has decided to put more and more limits on local communities,” said Councilwoman Mary-Lynne Bernald. “I would like to know where we stand right now. I would like to know where they’re going in the future.”
The council’s 4-1 ruling did come with a silver lining. Vice Mayor Manny Cappello suggested drafting a letter to congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the city and residents advocating for more local control regarding cell tower installations.
“That way we can go back and reconsider provisions of our ordinance in order to influence and regulate the installation of these antennas in our city,” Cappello said. His proposal was met with support from his colleagues, who all voted in favor it.
“The federal government has limited our control, and I think as a council, we owe it to our residents to try to gain back some of that control,” Cappello said.
Councilwoman Emily Lo also suggested creating a page on the city’s website dedicated solely to wireless telecommunication issues.
While he voted in support of Cappello’s proposal, once again Councilman Rishi Kumar was the lone dissenting council member. In a passionate rant, he called for a rehaul of the city’s wireless communication ordinance, which he deemed “shoddy” and “inadequate.”
“We need to update our cell phone ordinance,” he said. “That is absolutely critical. That’s the thing by which we can take matters into our own hands compared to leaving it to whoever else to decide our fate.”
Similar to the previous appeals of the planning commission’s approval of proposals to put in antennas on Prospect Road, this particular proposal has caused concern for residents, many of them parents of students at Saratoga High School, which is a mere three-minute walk from the church.
A few residents informed the council that most people in the city don’t rely as much on data as Verizon would like to have them believe, and that the youth especially tend to use Wi Fi instead. One woman called on the council to push for the implementation of Google Fiber, an ultrafast Internet service that’s currently available only in select U.S. cities.
When a couple of residents noted that Saratoga High School students are concerned, too, about potential health risks due to the proximity of the antennas to their campus, a few others jumped up to counter that it would behoove teens to be more worried about texting and driving than cell tower antennas.
A dozen speakers spoke before the council, but this time around a third of the speakers expressed support for the antennas. Steve Steele, co-pastor of Saratoga Presbyterian Church, was among the proponents of the plan.
“I have a great interest in this antenna because [it] will be located just above my office, as well as my wife’s office; she’s a co-pastor there,” Steele said. “We both have looked at the data. We are satisfied with what we see in terms of what the science says, and we are not concerned about what others have said about the health issues.”
Added Steele, “I’m literally putting my life underneath it and I feel OK about it.”
In an appeal filed on June 24, residents Benyu Fan, Hao Zheng and Murali Subbarad cited nine reasons for their opposition to the installation of the antennas, among them their belief that the proposed cell tower violates Saratoga city code and poses a risk to public safety.
Verizon maintained that the cupola that will house the antennas is intended to blend in with the roof in terms of materials and paint and that the cables that connect the antennas to the ground equipment will be located in a “cable tray” on the western side of the classroom building and will be painted to match the building.
“As there is a demand to improve coverage in a predominantly residential area, our location alternatives were limited to church properties, utility poles and Saratoga High School,” said Ashley Woods, a spokesperson for Verizon. “Ultimately Saratoga Presbyterian Church proved to be the most feasible candidate.”
As with the Prospect Road projects, the council’s ruling means that this one, too, will proceed as planned.
Link: Council shoots down appeal of planning decision on antennas
