Fed-up Lovers Lane residents are protesting the construction of
a fourth cell phone tower in their neighborhood, saying a 100-foot
tower Cingular Wireless wants to build there would hurt property
values and pose health risks to residents.
Hollister – Fed-up Lovers Lane residents are protesting the construction of a fourth cell phone tower in their neighborhood, saying a 100-foot tower Cingular Wireless wants to build there would hurt property values and pose health risks to residents.
Area residents brought their concerns to the County Board of Supervisors Wednesday, saying the construction of a fourth tower, especially one of this size, would be “a local blight.”
The five residents who spoke at Wednesday’s board meeting had already appealed an Oct. 20 Planning Commission decision to grant Cingular a use permit for 6620 Lovers Lane. The board voted unanimously to grant the appeal after about an hour of passionate public comment from the residents and rebuttal from Cingular Planning Consultant Luke Stamos.
“(The 100-foot pole) is not just an eye-sore, it’s a health hazard,” said Lovers Lane resident Robert Burrows. “Maybe it’s just perceived, but people are worried about their brain cells.”
Cingular needs the Lovers Lane site to provide cellular coverage for areas along Highways 25 and 156, where Cingular does not currently have service, according to Stamos.
But the residents said the Planning Commission made six errors in granting a use permit. Hearing the residents speak about these errors was enough for the board to accept their appeal.
The errors reported in the appeal include Cingular’s alleged failure to present other site options besides Lovers Lane for the tower, and the company’s insistence that 100 feet was the minimum height the pole could be to provide adequate cellular service. Residents said research showed the pole could be 75 feet tall and be just as effective.
Lovers Lane resident Carlos Azcona brought up another error alleged in the appeal. On Oct. 20, Cingular representatives told the Planning Commission the only other cell phone towers in the Lovers Lane area were owned by AT&T, which they referred to as “the competition,” according to the appeal. But two days later, Cingular and AT&T Wireless merged into one company. The Lovers Lane towers previously owned by “the competition,” Azcona reasoned, should now provide coverage along Highways 25 and 156 for Cingular customers.
Stamos did not return phone calls Thursday to confirm or deny Azcona’s statement.
Several Lovers Lane residents also said they were concerned about the adverse effect proximity to such a large wireless tower could have on their property values. Potential home-buyers would be put off by such a large cell phone tower because it would mar the appearance of the neighborhood and cause health worries, they said.
The residents submitted to the board a letter from local Coldwell Banker broker Tim Brown saying a 100-foot cell tower could decrease property values in an area by as much as 25-30 percent.
Stamos countered by saying Cingular had commissioned a study in San Francisco and found a tower of such size had no impact on real estate prices.
But Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Cruz was not convinced.
“I have a daughter who lives in San Francisco, and I can tell you that you can’t compare home prices there to home prices all the way out on Lovers Lane in San Benito County,” Cruz said.
Stamos said the study had been done in San Francisco because it was the most densely populated city in California, but didn’t explain further.
The matter will come before the board again on Dec. 7, when the supervisors will vote to officially allow the tower to be built or reject it, Assistant Planning Director Fred Goodrich said.
