Sample Letters to City Council

Below is a sample letter you can use if you would like to write to the Albany City Council regarding the cell tower hearings that will take place Monday, Dec. 13.

Email your letter by 3PM on Monday, Dec. 13 to:
cityhall@albanyca.org
and copy us at albanycellinfo@gmail.com

Sample letter for Albany City Council Cell Tower Hearings:

Dear Mayor Wile and Members of the City Council:

I am writing to ask you to vote to deny Verizon's request for a permit for 6 new antennas on the cell tower at 423 San Pablo Ave.  According to our Wireless Communication Facilities ordinance, only "routine maintenance" is permitted on cell towers such as this one that predate our ordinance and do not conform to its requirements.  The pole is too tall, not screened, and too close to a residence.  

Verizon and tower owner Crown Castle are requesting to add to the pole new antennas with greater output power, to provide an entirely new service called Long-Term Evolution or LTE.   This addition would expand and extend the life of the pole.  Verizon's application clearly states that the new antennas would be an "upgrade" and "enhancement," i.e., not routine maintenance. So a permit for these antennas would violate our wireless regulations.  

In addition, our general zoning ordinance prohibits enlargements of non-residential nonconforming uses such as this tower.  Although Verizon and Crown Castle are threatening to sue the city, the state supreme court has affirmed that eliminating nonconforming uses is a legitimate goal of zoning regulations, and that "courts should follow a strict policy against extension of expansion of those uses." 

Many Albany residents worked hard to pass our Wireless Ordinance in 2005, in the face of legal threats from wireless companies who claimed that the city was not entitled to regulate cell towers. However, federal law explicitly gives local governments the right to regulate the "placement, construction, and modification" of wireless facilities, which is exactly what our ordinance does.

I urge you to to enforce our ordinance, deny this application, and make clear that Verizon is free to apply to locate its new antennas at a site that meets our ordinance's requirements.   Please do not set a precedent that undermines our legal right to regulate where and how wireless companies can locate and expand facilities in our community.  Thank you. 

Sincerely,

Your Name

Your Address