Appeal denied
Cellphone antenna for North Ranch is approved

The Thousand Oaks City Council denied an appeal to the decision of the planning commission to uphold the installation of a Cingular wireless antenna device on the southwest corner of Westlake Boulevard and Cresthaven Drive.

The 35-foot-high facility is to be built to improve reception for Cingular wireless phone customers. The existing reception was described as poor to completely absent in that area of the city, as Councilmember Jacqui Irwin confirmed. She said she'd determined this with use of her own Cingular cellphone.

The Ninth District Court of Appeal has decided California cities do not have the right to deny the construction of wireless facilities on the public rightsofway due to aesthetics, according to a city staff report provided to the council.

Cingular's report to the council said that building the facility would be beneficial to the city. According to the report, enhancing wireless service in the area improves emergency communications for firefighters, police and other emergency personnel. The report also said that wireless technology provides a way for those in disabled vehicles to call for assistance.

The citizen appeal noted safety concerns for nearby residents and possible damage to two long-standing sycamore trees.

On Jan. 3, 2006, the planning commission approved 4-1, with Chair Janet Wall dissenting, a request to install the wireless facility on a Southern California Edison Co. light stand, despite the objections of several residents who live in the vicinity.

Cingular provided information showing it had exhausted a search for other suitable sites and found the Westlake Boulevard site technically and logically the only viable location. In response to the appeal, the company agreed to improve landscaping in the area around the facility and plant additional trees.

The motion was approved 3-1 with Claudia Billde la Peña dissenting and Tom Glancy absent.

-Nancy Needham