“Its the wild west out there!” said Atwater resident Susan Becker, as we spoke about how the Los Angeles DWP and the Southern California Joint Pole Committee allow siting of wireless facilities on any utility pole in the city as long as they meet clearance requirements on the pole itself!
DWP does not keep track of cell sites in Los Angeles, it doesn’t regulate cell sites, and it doesn’t supervise individual installations. In fact, any telecom can construct a new pole right next to an existing pole without DWP involvement. The technical specifications that DWP and wireless providers must abide by, and how DWP supplies power to wireless transmitters, were covered at a Saturday LA neighborhood council meeting and reported here.
Becker’s comment is especially apt because telecom companies can elude public notice, place antennas on utility poles, replace poles, or build new poles without any case by case oversight, both because of the way LA City currently operates but also (and more importantly) because of California Public Utilities Code Section 7901, which was enacted in the mid-nineteenth century (Wild West days…) to expedite construction of the first telephone and telegraph lines on public rights-of-way.
From California Public Utilities Code Section 7901:
“Telegraph or telephone corporations may construct lines of telegraph or telephone lines along and upon any public road or highway, along or across any of the waters or lands within this State, and may erect poles, posts, piers, or abutments for supporting the insulators, wires, and other necessary fixtures of their lines, in such manner and at such points as not to incommode the public use of the road or highway or interrupt the navigation of the waters.”