THOUSAND OAKS : Planning Panel Rejects Antenna Site

Cal Lutheran University’s efforts to establish a public FM radio station suffered another setback when the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission recommended that a remote ridgeline location for the station’s 150-foot-high antenna be rejected.

The commission Monday voted 2 to 2 against the site. Commissioners Irv Wasserman and Andrew Fox voted to reject the location, while Mervyn Kopp and Forrest Frields voted for it. Commissioner Marilyn Carpenter, a Cal Lutheran employee, abstained.

Dennis Gillette, Cal Lutheran’s vice president for administrative services, said the vote took him by surprise. He said the university had chosen the site at the urging of the City Council after residents objected to the university’s first choice on Mountclef Ridge.

The Mountclef Ridge site was objected to by nearby homeowners, who said the antenna would have disrupted their view of the 180-foot-high ridge.

The proposed location, near the Camarillo city line, is more than a mile from any houses. The antenna would be located amid several Southern California Edison high-voltage electric transmission line towers ranging in height from 97 to 107 feet.

The commission staff said the transmission towers significantly reduced the visual impact of the antenna.

But Fox, who favored the Mountclef Ridge site, said he opposed the new location because it is on city-owned open space. “That’s a policy decision that the council needs to make,” he said.

Wasserman said he was concerned about setting a precedent that would make it easier for other private entities to claim city open space.

Gillette said KCLU could still go on the air by September as planned if the City Council approves the antenna location soon.