Verizon Seeking Permit for New Cell Tower

The Planning Commission stopped short of approving a request from Verizon Wireless on Thursday for a permit to install a new “monopalm” wireless tower on the property of United Methodist Church.

Concerns about a separate building Verizon plans to build at the site caused the commission to vote unanimously to continue the hearing until its Aug. 7 meeting. By that point, Verizon will have revised the plans.

One suggestion from the Planning Commission included having the new building share a wall with another building already on site.

The tower, which would look like a 60-foot-tall palm tree, would stand on the same property as an existing “monopine” structure owned by T-Mobile.

According to the Planning Commission report, Verizon Wireless had initially hoped to piggyback on the existing structure, but AT&T wireless already snapped up the last spot on that pole.

AT&T Wireless also recently gained approval from the full City Council to proceed with plans for a . Like AT&T, Verizon hopes to improve its sometimes spotty Sierra Madre cellular coverage with the addition of the new tower.

Other concerns about the tower came via public comment from a nearby resident. However, most issues, aside from the aforementioned building, were resolved during the meeting.

Paul Savoy, who lives on West Montecito Avenue, spoke to the commission regarding his concerns with a project that he said would “certainly not be a pretty thing to look at.”

While Savoy said the assumed the project's approval was a forgone conclusion, he asked that the commission impose a restriction that the tower not be constructed until electricity was fully supplied to the site.

According to Savoy, the installation of the T-Mobile tower included a period during which the transmitter was operated by a portable generator.

Indeed, the documentation for the Condition Use Permit application did include mention leaving room for a generator. But Patty Mejia, who spoke on behalf of Verizon, said that while they had originally asked for the right to use a generator in the interim, this plan had been scrapped and the remaining mention was meant only to allow Verizon to use a generator in the event of a power outage.

Subsequently, the Planning Commission revised the language of the permit to specifically disallow the use of a generator except in the case of a “general power outage.”

“It sounds to me like that commission has a lot of questions,” Commission Chair Kevin Paschal said before asking if Mejia to return on Aug. 7 with the revised permit application.