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Published on 07/07/1997 All articles from this issue

City to define 'reasonable accommodation' for ham radio antennas

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

The Los Altos City Council overturned the Architectural and Site Control Committee's decision to deny a 57-foot ham radio antenna and sent it back to A & S to determine a "reasonable accommodation" of the request.

Federal guidelines require communities to make "reasonable accommodation" for ham antennas because of public safety benefits, said city attorney Bob Booth at the June 24 council meeting.

"And a flat 'no' is not 'reasonable accommodation,'" said Mayor Francis La Poll.

"It is very important to me to serve an emergency function. But I'm not sure what the 'reasonable accommodation' is for peoples' hobbies," La Poll said.

Current city ordinance allows ground-mounted ham radio antennas to be located in a back yard only and to be up to 65 feet high if they are placed "within the buildable area of the main structure" and retractable to less than 70 percent of the fully-extended height.

"This antenna (application) complies with our guidelines in pretty much all respects," Booth told the council.

Tim Shroyer, who has applied for the antenna, has been a licensed ham operator since 1968 and is one of 360 "licensed hams" in Los Altos, he told the council.

Following the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, when there were no phones, Shroyer said "amateur radios were available. I talked with my family and my neighbors' families." Ham operators cannot be paid, he said, and provide voluntary disaster relief for a community.

But his neighbors don't want a 57-foot antenna rising above the trees in their neighborhood. Five spoke against it at the council meeting and 104 signed a petition stating they did not want it.

"Having this enormous structure looming overhead in total view from our yard can only decrease the desirability of our home," said backyard neighbor Roxanne Ashley. "The same service (beneficial emergency service to the community) can be accomplished with a smaller, less visible antenna," she said.

Her family would swim in their pool in the shadow cast by the towering pole. There's no garden screening that could hide such a tall facility.

On the other hand, "hams provide a valuable public service," said Los Altos resident Al Hubbard, a licensed ham operator since 1967.

Parties both for and against the proposed antenna threatened the city with litigation. Prior to the June 24 council meeting, council members met in closed session to consider the litigation. Council took no action during the closed session.

The city's A & S committee will now be considering a definition of "reasonable accommodation" for ham antennas.