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

Albany City Council to Vote on 2 Cell Antenna Permits

The Albany City Council will vote on 2 cell antenna permits on Monday Dec. 13 at 7:30 PM, Albany City Hall, 1000 San Pablo Ave.

The votes, on permits for Verizon antennas on the cell tower at 423 San Pablo Ave. (behind the former World Savings) and on a tower at Golden Gate Fields, will be very important for determining whether the city stands by its Wireless Communication Facilities ordinance, which was adopted in 2005 after community outcry about proposed cell towers on Albany High School.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH THIS CELL TOWER?
The wireless ordinance protects city residents from cell towers being located near homes, schools, or day care, and it prohibits any expansion of cell towers that pre-date and do not conform with the ordinance.

The 423 San Pablo tower pre-dates and does not conform to our ordinance and therefore cannot legally be expanded. The tower is 17 feet too tall, does not meet the ordinance's aesthetics requirements, and is located in the last-choice district of the city where antennas are allowed. It is also approximately 20 feet from the balcony of a residential apartment.

Verizon Wireless and Crown Castle (the tower owner) want to add 6 new antennas to the tower to replace 4 that are currently there, allowing Verizon to offer an entirely new service, Long Term Evolution or LTE.  This is clearly an expansion of the tower as defined in our ordinance -- more antennas, new antennas, more output from the antennas.

Verizon and Crown Castle have threatened to sue if the city enforces the ordinance and denies the permit for these antennas.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO ME?
The vote on these antennas is very important for anyone living near a cell tower in Albany. If the council undermines the ordinance and approves these antennas, they will have given up Albany's rights under our own ordinance as well as federal law, which allows cities to regulate the placement and modification of cell towers.

ARE YOU OPPOSED TO VERIZON BEING ABLE TO IMPROVE ITS SERVICE?
We are not opposed to Verizon being able to offer quality service in Albany; we simply want the Council to enforce the ordinance and require Verizon to locate these antennas in the best interest of the community with regard to aesthetics, noise, and other effects of these generally unsightly and quasi-industrial facilities.  The first-preference district for antennas is to the west, near the I-80 and I-580 freeways.

TELL THE CITY WHAT YOU THINK
Come to the meeting on Dec. 13 to speak against the 423 San Pablo antenna permit, or write to the City Council and express your views (cityhall@albanyca.org) with a cc to Planning Manager Jeff Bond (jbond@albanyca.org).

DONATE
Albany Residents for Responsible Oversight of Wireless (ARROW), the new name for a group formed in 2004 when cell antennas were proposed on the roof of Albany High School, would appreciate donations to help pay for the attorney we have hired to represent us at the Dec. 13 meeting. Any amount you can afford  -- $10, $25, $100 -- will be deeply appreciated. We are now halfway to our goal of raising $2,000.

** Send checks to: ARROW Legal Defense Fund, c/o Nan, 504 San Carlos Ave., Albany CA, 94706.