Glendale’s draft wireless ordinance will be up for City Council review within the next several weeks, reported Glendale Organized Against Cell Towers (GOACT), which updated the Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council last night on remaining issues.
GOACT praised the protections city staff drafted for private property installations, while urging more restrictions for city-owned public right-of-way sites, which could be right in front of homes.
The report can be viewed here, and is reprinted below:
Moratorium on cell sites in Glendale residential areas continues.
15 or 16 permits pending on Public Right of Way (PROW), most in Chevy Chase, San Rafael areas.
3 permits pending on private property – 250 Mesa Lila Road (2) and 1280 Boynton Street (1).
Draft Wireless Ordinance released October 2009. Three community meetings held, comments received from industry and residents. City published all submitted comments here: http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/pdf/wirelessAntennas_stakeholdersComments.pdf
Planning Commission hearing held February 2010. Staff report on proposed changes to Title 30; comments from residents and industry. Commissioners decide to include slopes, contours, trees, topography in siting considerations. GOACT praises Title 30 protections. PROW rules (Title 12) a primary concern.
NEXT STEPS IN GLENDALE:
Public Works Counsel still accepting comments. Planning Commission comments and subsequent written comments received from public or industry will be included in staff report to City Council.
City Council hearing – end of March to mid/late April. Review of draft wireless ordinance with changes to Title 30 (zoning) and Title 12 (PROW) will be on agenda.
GOACT’S RECOMMENDATIONS:
Urge City Council to enact
-setbacks of at least 15 feet for public right-of-way installations
-public hearings for public right-of-way installations.
Send comments to City Attorney Christina Sansone, and speak at the City Council meeting.
The draft wireless ordinance does not currently have these changes to Title 12. City staff and consultants told Planning commissioners it would be problematic to mandate PROW setbacks and hearings, but without them, residents are no better off than they were before.Urge Glendale to adopt SDG&E and LA County Counsel’s recommendations for cell sites in fire hazard areas: undergrounding of equipment, ownership markers on poles, clearance requirements for overhead wires next to other wires, $500 million insurance requirement.
http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/efile/MISC/111639.pdf
http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/efile/CM/111653.pdfPetition Congressman Schiff for repeal of Section 704, Telecommunications Act of 1996. GOACT and the Coalition for Local Oversight of Utility Technologies (www.cloutnow.org) call for repeal of federal law which prohibits regulation of the “placement, construction, and modification of telecommunications towers and other personal wireless services facilities on the basis of the health and environmental effects of such facilities”