By Clarence Cromwell
The 1996 Telecommunications Act left a parcel of blessings and curses at the doorstep of the Los Gatos Planning Commission, which members sorted out during last week's study session.
The legislation allowed, among other things, for the U.S. government to auction a portion of the radio spectrum to new cellular phone companies resulting in a surge of new telecommunications firms seeking to install radio antennas in cities around the country, including Los Gatos.
Congress granted the companies the right to set up radio networks that will beam services to tiny black boxes in the palms of their customers' hands. It's up to community planners to make sure the new antennas don't ruin the atmosphere of the physical surroundings of their communities.
Sprint Spectrum wants to put antennas at Diddams, 18 N. Santa Cruz Ave., and on an office building at 15951 Los Gatos Blvd., Pacific Bell Mobile Services wants permission to use an existing pole on a lot at 400 More Ave. and antennas at the same Los Gatos Boulevard site Sprint will use. General Wireless will apply later to put three 8.5-foot whip antennas at the Los Gatos town mainenance yard.
Commissioners voiced concerns about how visible the antennas will be; they have to be about 45 feet in the air so the signal won't be blocked by buildings and trees. Los Gatos light poles, by comparison, are 18 feet tall. The simplest and most common means of mounting cellular antennas is on big poles or the roofs of tall buildings, where they can be seen from far away.
Planning commissioners said they want neither of those.
"The blue 'smokestacks' on Diddams, I'm not too thrilled about, especially from the back of the building," commissioner Sandy Decker said, referring to models put on the Diddams building early last month for Planning Commission scrutiny.
Commissioner Mike Abkin observed that the town has little choice of whether to accept the antennas. "What can we do about it?" he asked. "All we can do is make it as unobtrusive as possible."
The cellular experts said they can take any number of measures to hide the antennas. They have been hidden inside signs, concealed under the stucco of buildings and hidden in the posts of ballpark fences.
Pacific Bell and Sprint representatives said they'd share as many sites as possible because it saves money and allows easier approval. Sometimes sites are too small for more antennas, which must be at least 10 feet from one another. Sometimes more antennas would just change the view too much.
The commission currently reviews every application individually and requires a conditional-use permit for all cellular antennas. One suggestion by commission members was to write up a list of criteria that any new sites must meet to get approval, sending a clear message to cellular companies about where they can go. Planning Director Lee Bowman said that may tie the commission's hands on antenna applications, because commissioners could be legally forced to approve any site that met the written guidelines, even if other serious considerations arose.
The commission will decide on a process and on the four pending applications at its Nov. 13 meeting.
Los Gatos will have to deal with as many as six new firms once it has a policy in place because that's how many licenses the Federal Communications Commission will auction. All six are expected to propose networks with separate antenna sites. Pacific Bell, Sprint and General Wireless bought permits to operate Personal Communication Service-type systems. PCS technology is much like cellular phone service, representatives of Pacific Bell and Sprint said: The difference is marketing. Their customers will receive voicemail, email, phone calls and faxes--all through a small, cordless flip-phone.
The telecom firms say they can set up networks that will connect calls better than current cellular networks if they put antennas in the right places. Service south of Los Gatos is spotty because the Santa Cruz mountains block signals, making it virtually impossible to place a call while driving "over the hill."
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 6, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved