Los Angeles residents continue to struggle with a bureaucracy that shuns responsibility for cell site regulation and relies on automatic procedures to “approve” installations.
Two city staff responsible for drafting the Los Angeles Above Ground Facility Ordinance asserted that it was never intended to cover any poles or antennas, but only power cabinets. Despite this fact, the Bureau of Engineering requires telecoms to seek approvals through LA’s AGF ordiniance, which basically amounts to a rubber-stamping, tantamount, as one community advocate wrote to “no regulation at all over any poles or towers in the public right of way – just like the situation with utility pole cell site installations!”
Utility poles are exempt from the regulations of the AGF Ordinance. But the same ordinance it also says that such poles “shall not include…antennas.”
In the Los Feliz area, a homeowners advocate writes that “AT&T plans to place yet another large-size cabinet in the public right-of-way along one of our streets (Canyon Drive). According to AT&T, it will not be connected to any existing or planned cell site. We have opposed the plan pointing to a number of procedural and other violations of the Above Ground Facility Ordinance. The Bureau of Engineering responded by saying they have not yet seen the particular application – that’s at a time when residents living next to the site have already been notified by AT&T about the planned installation, as required by law – a move that starts the window of time during which residents can file an appeal with the City. While the Bureau of Engineering does not acknowledge the receipt of the AGF application, the notification letter sent to the residents gives a City Reference Number. Is this case merely a failure of City bureaucracy?”
Residents in Palisades Highlands learned in December that Verizon planned to install 5 free-standing cell towers in a 1/3 mile stretch of median (the public right-of-way) in the main road going into a residential area known for its open space, no above ground facilities, and no poles or light standards. Residents maintained the parkway landscaping at their own expense for years, and are outraged by the development, which the city approved without any hearing under the Above Ground Facility statute.
A community member reports that “some residents have appealed, but it’s an uphill battle as there are no standards for poles or towers in the statute — certainly no protections for residential areas, no provisions for height, aesthetics, etc. — and … Bureau of Engineering officials state that they “must” grant approval!”