 |
|
|
|
|
Editorial
A town park is no place for cellular equipment
The power lines sag from tower to tower as they span the grassy acreage of Live Oak Manor Park. The lines have cut through the town in that PG&E right of way for decades.
Residents may or may not like the unsightly appearance of the sagging lines and the vast towers they suspend from, but they've certainly learned to accept them over the past 40-plus years.
What residents of the area cannot accept, however, is a proposal by MetroPCS for the installation of cellular equipment and antennas on and around the PG&E tower located on Lester Lane at one of the entrances to Live Oak Manor Park.
More than 100 residents of the area turned out on March 27 to strongly voice their disapproval of the proposal to the Los Gatos Planning Commission. The commissioners agreed with the residents and voted 6-0 to recommend that the town deny the cellular company's request.
Now it's up to the town council to make it final.
MetroPCS has appealed the planning commission decision and will take it to the council on June 17. We recommend that the members of the council support the decision of the planning commission and support their constituency by denying the MetroPCS appeal.
There are just too many potential negatives to the plan to outweigh any positive impact on the town.
MetroPCS hopes to install three antennas atop the 150-foot tower and additional equipment on the ground. Then, in a plan to mitigate the increased noise level, the company would replace the existing cyclone fencing with a redwood fence.
The fencing is an invitation for vandalism and foul play, making the area unsafe for the neighborhood children who must pass by the fence to get to the park. Without the fencing, the noise would be a constant reminder to neighbors of the added equipment.
More noise, the threat to the children, a potential decrease in property values ... that's more than enough reason for the council to deny the request.
Is it NIMBYism? Sure it is. But who can blame the residents of the Live Oak Manor area for taking a "not in my backyard" attitude when it comes to an intrusion of this magnitude?
There must be a better place for the cellular equipment and antennae than atop a tower at the gateway to a town park and in the heart of a residential neighborhood--a place that would not intrude on existing neighbors, a place in a commercial or open space area.
And just what is the advantage to Los Gatos residents to have this equipment installed? MetroPCS may be able to provide one-rate calling plans for cellular phone users from Monterey to Sacramento with the installation, but that's no reason to impose upon residents of our town.
It is a neighborhood park, after all--not a communications facility. We wouldn't want this equipment installed in Oak Meadow or Bachman parks, and we don't want it in Live Oak Manor Park either.
|
|
|
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
