Council Lifts Ban on Cell Phone Antennas

In a unanimous decision, the City Council has voted to lift its moratorium on cell phone antennas in residential neighborhoods, and on open space and public lands, while reserving the right to review where and how they will be built.

In addition to lifting the ban, council members approved an ordinance that establishes guidelines for city planners in considering applications for wireless antenna construction.

The ordinance was passed Tuesday to ensure against companies clustering towers in or near neighborhoods and creating visual pollution of ridgelines, open space preserves and public lands with the gangly antennas.

Previously, wireless services had only been allowed to erect their towers in the city’s scant commercial and industrial areas, which companies like AT&T; Wireless complained prohibited them from providing adequate service to customers.

Additionally, the city had come under pressure from the Federal Communications Commission for its restrictive antenna policies.

The FCC said that if the city maintained the moratorium, it could be in violation of federal law, which prohibits cities from unreasonably restricting the placement of cellular phone towers.