Cingular cell antenna on hold for now

June Casagrande

A plan to install a 50-foot flagpole as a site for a Cingular

cellular antenna got stalled on Tuesday amid a swarm of questions

about whether the towering structure is really necessary.

Councilman Steve Rosansky, whose district includes the proposed

antenna site in a city parking lot at the southeast corner of

Superior Avenue and Coast Highway, asked to postpone the vote to give

staff members time to gather more information about the proposed

antenna.

“Right now, we’re relying totally on information from the

applicant, so we can’t really know things like whether they could

provide the same public benefit by putting antennas on existing light

poles, whether this huge pole really is what they need to do to

improve their service,” Rosansky said. “I also worry that, under the

city’s ordinance, if we let Cingular do it then we might have to let

other companies do it at the same site. It could end up looking like

the United Nations there if we’re not careful.”

Aesthetics are the biggest concern. The antenna would extend 35

feet taller than current city guidelines, it would be about 2 feet

thick and would probably have a large American flag on top. The pole

and flag would be visible from the Newport Crest, Villa Balboa, Sea

Faire and other communities. Cingular would pay the city about

$25,000 a year for an antenna on the site, City Manager Homer Bludau

estimated.

On the other hand, if the city doesn’t rent the site to Cingular,

there’s nothing to stop the company from renting space on private

property nearby. Antennas on private property are subject to less

regulation than antennas on city property, so the effect could be

worse.

In 2002, the City Council voted to create an ordinance that in

effect allows it to get into the business of renting space for

cellular antennas. Cingular was the first company to apply to the

city to lease an antenna site.

Several others have since put in requests for different sites in

the city. Places that could soon be home to cellular antennas include

the Oasis Senior Center, Grant Howald Park, Mariner’s Park, Eastbluff

Park, The Eastbluff Boys and Girls Club, Bonita Creek Park, Buffalo

Hills Park and the municipal parking lot located at Palm Street and

Balboa Boulevard.

Staff members have the power to grant or deny the companies’

applications, except when the antennas don’t comply with city

guidelines. The City Council considers exceptions, such as Cingular,

whose antenna would exceed the 35-foot height limit by 15 feet.

“I think it’s a policy decision as to whether the improved

telephone cell coverage is enough public benefit to put in an antenna

that is that tall and that thick around,” Bludau said.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].