Law Drafted for Cellular Antennas

THOUSAND OAKS —  Six months after officials enacted a moratorium on new cellular phone antennas, city staff members have drafted an ordinance intended to balance the growing demand for wireless telecommunications and a desire to protect this city’s scenic hillsides.

Thousand Oaks planning commissioners this week received a draft of the new law. It outlines steps companies would have to take before winning permission to build antennas, including painting equipment a neutral color to match surroundings and obscuring transmission sites with landscaping.

Neighboring Simi Valley has already adopted a set of rules governing cellular phone antennas, and officials in Thousand Oaks hope that the new ordinance will satisfy residents.

“There’s a real proliferation of requests for [cellular antennas],” Planning Commissioner Forrest Fields said. “I think we need to have communications. . . . But we don’t want to destroy the wonderful views around the valley.”

Planning Commissioner Dave Anderson said antennas now line freeways throughout Southern California.

“There has to be some other way of doing this, other than picking the most prominent knolls in the community,” Anderson said.

Council members imposed the moratorium last November and directed the planning staff to come up with rules to deal with new cellular transmission sites.

In the interim, planning commissioners rejected a plan by Pacific Bell and AT&T; to build a wireless communications facility in the northeast part of the city.

Planning commissioners are scheduled to discuss the new law June 9. The City Council will hear appeals from AT&T; and Pacific Bell on July 8.