Residents' Complaints Killed Planned Verizon Cell Tower in Charter Oaks

County supervisors, mindful of strong community opposition, put an end Tuesday to Verizon’s plan to put a cell tower in unincorporated Charter Oaks.

Last June, a county planning officer approved the 46-foot-high steel frame tower, to be built on land owned by a local church. Residents appealed the decision, filing a petition with 963 signatures.

The Department of Regional Planning upheld that appeal on Oct. 28 and denied the project at 4337 N. Sunflower Ave., prompting Verizon to ask the Board of Supervisors to overrule regional planners.

A lawyer for the company told the board that the carrier had identified “a significant gap in its 4G LTE coverage” and that extensive research showed the Charter Oaks tower was “the least intrusive means of filling this gap.”

Residents -- now at least 1,200 strong, based on signatures collected -- disagreed.

Waving a photo of such a tower, one resident said it would be “the ugliest thing” in an area already blighted by three unattractive water tanks.

“This is not acceptable, it’s going to hurt my property value and we don’t want it,” the resident said.

Others said their cell phone coverage was just fine and suggested that the carrier put a tower in a commercial area a mile and a half down the road.

Supervisor Michael Antonovich recommended turning down Verizon’s appeal.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said the residents made a good case, using Verizon’s own phones to take photos to illustrate their concerns.

“Can you hear me now?” she joked.

Kuehl said she is a Verizon customer and has nothing against the wireless carrier.

She said “not only is the cell tower ugly, which is sufficient to turn it down under the law,” but Verizon had failed to prove a need to expand or a gap in service.

Kuehl said the residents were smart to stick to a short list of complaints in making their argument.

“Many people in our fire department feel that there are health impacts,” she said, but told the residents she thought they had been better served by not raising health concerns that could not be supported by hard evidence.

Firefighters have opposed cell towers to be built near fire stations as part of a countywide emergency communications system. County officials have countered that the towers emit a lower amount of radio-frequency waves than most household appliances.

The board’s vote to deny Verizon’s appeal was unanimous.

For Kuehl, Tuesday’s debate served as an example of how residents can make their voice heard.

“It works,” she said.

— City News Service, photo via Shutterstock