For the first time, San Benito County will restrict the
placement and appearance of cellular phone towers.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously adopted an
ordinance that lays out specific mandates for new
telecommunications facilities. Included are an array of conditions
to prevent visual disharmony, along with rules to keep future
towers away from homes or schools.
For the first time, San Benito County will restrict the placement and appearance of cellular phone towers.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously adopted an ordinance that lays out specific mandates for new telecommunications facilities. Included are an array of conditions to prevent visual disharmony, along with rules to keep future towers away from homes or schools.
The Wireless Telecommunications Ordinance – initialized by the county Planning Department earlier this year and sent to the Board in August, will go into effect in 30 days. San Benito County joins many other jurisdictions across the country in recent years to adopt such regulations.
The Planning Department conceived the ordinance because the county was hit by a flood of applications for new facilities. Existing towers are exempt.
With a combination of rapid growth and proliferation of cell phone usage in recent years, image consciousness for the area’s landscape and neighborhoods became the basis for the ordinance.
“I think the way we’re growing, we’re going to see more and more wireless communications,” Supervisor Pat Loe said.
Supervisor Reb Monaco believes it is restrictive but not overly prohibitive – it won’t deter operators from coming here, he said. Plus, wireless telecommunications companies are accustomed to such regulations, he said.
“It gives better direction for planning when it comes to (the placement of) these things,” said Monaco, who originally expressed concern about enacting such a law.
All would-be operators are now required to obtain a use permit from the county. Before that happens, though, each applicant must meet several mandates.
Those provisions require the facilities to blend with the structure on which they are placed. The rules include, among others: Roof-mounted antennas must be located as far as possible from the edge; advertising on them is not allowed; colors of the facilities must blend with the sky or surroundings; and landscaping should be used to screen the towers.
With that, concerns regarding alleged health effects caused by the towers’ magnetic radiation were among officials’ line of reasoning. Some health authorities throughout the nation believe such towers can harm human DNA and potentially lead to cancer.
Federal regulations, however, disallow the county from enacting an ordinance based on “perceived effects,” said Chris Cote, president of the Gilroy-based Hollings Cartaway Foundation, who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting. He spearheaded a Gilroy petition in 2002 that eventually led to strengthening that city’s wireless tower regulations.
The ordinance does not directly address those medical concerns. However, thanks to Supervisors’ advisement two weeks ago, planners added geographic restrictions to the ordinance. The towers cannot go up within 500 feet of homes or 1,500 feet of schools.
Cote, who has worked throughout the nation on related telecommunications issues, said cellular tower-restricting ordinances “are necessary in 21st century life.” He heralded the inclusiveness of San Benito County’s ordinance.
“This is one of the best telecommunications ordinances I’ve ever seen passed by a local agency,” he said.
