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Published on 08/12/1996 All articles from this issue

City officials consider wireless antenna guidelines

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

At an Aug. 6 joint study session with the Los Altos City Council and the Los Altos Planning Commission to review a draft of guidelines for wireless communication facilities, comments zeroed in on location.

"I don't want to see a 40-foot mono-pole in the middle of a soccer field," said city councilman Francis La Poll.

Dianne Gershuny, Los Altos city manager, said "we want to make it hard to have antennas in residential areas."

Currently, the three wireless antenna sites in Los Altos are all located on private commercial property. GTE Mobilnet has an active application before the city for an 89-foot mono-pole to go on city land behind the police station.

La Poll said the city should try to do "co-location" where more than one vendor can use the same pole. That would be the case with the GTE Mobilnet application, if approved, because the police department would also use the tower.

David Kornfield, associate planner in the Los Altos Planning Department, said the guidelines would require applicants to submit documents to show that any radiation levels from their project would conform to federal guidelines.

Karen Grossman, a 20-year Los Altos resident, told the council that "something is missing in the guidelines. There is no information about how PCS (personal communication services) can interfere with people with disabilities."

Gershuny said the city is aware of this and guidelines say that "the applicant may be required to correct any and all future interference problems experienced by neighbors with respect to reception problems caused by the facility."

Larry Tong, Los Altos planning director, said he expects a draft will be ready in September or October. Planning commissioners have said they will not consider any more applications for wireless antennas until the city adopts guidelines.