Council Bans Wireless Equipment in Public Spaces

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

Feb. 25 -- In a move that will likely spark more lawsuits by wireless companies, the City Council Tuesday night unanimously adopted an emergency six-month moratorium on permits for telecommunication businesses that want to add coverage-expanding technology to city-owned public areas.

The council’s 5 to 0 decision bought time for the City to assess the legal rights of companies to install antennas, towers and other wireless technology in these public spheres and also enact a permit law to regulate those installations, according to Deputy City Attorney Cara Silver.

Set to act on such a permit law last night, the council instead voted 5 to 0 to refer the item back to City staff to gather more input from the wireless companies after numerous representatives from Verizon, AT&T and Cingular said they only had four days to respond to the issue. In a hint at the importance of the proposed law, many of the wireless representatives flew in from other states, including several from Texas.

The dramatic increase of wireless subscribers from 38 million to nearly 148 million nationally in the last decade has “very recently” encouraged telecommunication companies to expand from private land into the city-owned areas known as Public Right of Way (PROW) zones, according to the City staff report.

PROW areas are defined in the report as “public streets, sidewalks, parkways, courts, pedestrian paths, bikeways and other easements,” and have historically been reserved for city-owned utilities, such as sewer, water, street lighting, gas, electric, phone lines and franchised cable television.

Every council member present said the City needs the permit law to regulate wireless companies that may compromise the aesthetic integrity of Santa Monica and guard against unsightly and poorly placed antennas and towers that might be erected in PROW areas.

“It is our job to make sure technology doesn’t run rampant over the residents,” said Mayor Richard Bloom. “That’s the reason we have a local government.”

Bloom said that while he does not believe the wireless companies are out to harm the public, he cannot “just trust them” to keep the interests of Santa Monica in mind.

Wireless companies -- including Verizon and AT&T, who have filed two separate suits against the City because officials did not approve their applications and indicated the council would pass a permit law --- said they should not be singled out for a process that other utility companies do not have to undergo.

“These conditional use requirements… unfairly place a burden on wireless carriers that other utilities don’t have to face,” said Sondra Jacobs, a planning manager for Cingular wireless. Santa Monica “is taking an unzoned public right of way and now requiring permits.”

“What’s the big deal,” asked Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown.

McKeown repeatedly pointed out to the nearly dozen wireless representatives who spoke at the meeting that if their antennas and towers were discretely placed and camouflaged, like many of the company officials said they would be, there should be no problem passing the city’s future permit standards.

“Sounds like you’re going to sail through this process,” echoed Mayor Bloom.

Verizon wireless representative, Leslie Dagle, countered that the process itself would take a lot of time, hinder customer service, discourage investment in Santa Monica and even put people at risk, because wireless technologies are now often used to help people in emergency situations.

While most wireless company representatives spoke out against the larger issue of the permit law, Gary Klauss of Verizon tackled the legality of the moratorium in a methodical rundown of its problems.

Klauss urged the council to vote down the “irrational” moratorium ordinance on grounds that it was not issued in response to a public safety threat, exceeded a 45-day limit and violated sections of the 1996 Federal Telecommunications Act.

“This is a state and federal issue, not a municipal one,” said Klauss. If Santa Monica approved these laws, he said, it would encourage a “crazy quilt” of coverage across the nation.

Those may be some of the underlying legal arguments that Verizon and others may use to attack the moratorium in the courts, Deputy City Attorney Cara Silver said after the meeting.

However, she also said that the moratorium, if it stands legal review, will shield the City against the current two suits that AT&T and Verizon have filed because they will in effect become “moot.”

Council member Herb Katz said he sees the permit ordinance and moratorium as a City issue.

“This is not much different from other utilities we regulate,” Katz said. “If someone wants to put a utility pole in your front yard, we can at least look at it. That’s how I see it.”

Mayor Bloom expressed frustration at the wireless company’s single-minded attack on their right to operate in the PROW instead of working with the City to come up with a compromise on the permit law.

Council member Katz also summed up his feeling on that issue.

“I guess its all about the principle,” he said.