Albany Council Denies Upgrade to 423 San Pablo Cell Tower

On Nov. 7, the Albany City Council voted to deny the proposed expansion of the cell tower at 423 San Pablo Ave. on the basis that this tower was built before the city adopted wireless regulations and does not conform to those regulations, cities have the right to refuse to extend the lives of non-conforming uses as specified in the Albany zoning ordinance, and the only way an exception to the regulations could be granted would be if the applicant demonstrated with a thorough analysis of alternative locations that there is no other feasible site from which service could be provided. The city has been requesting this alternative site analysis from Verizon for more than a year, but Verizon has refused to prepare it.  Verizon is free to apply to locate the new antennas at any site in the city that conforms to our ordinance.  Thanks to all who wrote letters, spoke at the council meeting, and donated to pay for the independent attorney and radio frequency engineer who analyzed Crown Castle/Verizon's documentation.