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No cell tower moratorium
Nov 19, 2008 (Times-Standard - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Efforts by the Eureka City Council to enact a moratorium on the construction of cell phone towers within the city failed Tuesday.
Seeing it didn't have enough votes to enact the moratorium, the council opted instead to have staff bring back a proposed ordinance that would regulate the process of locating wireless communications facilities in the city. The decision was the product of a divided council and came after it heard from almost 20 speakers during the public comment period.
Of the 19 people who addressed the council, the lines were clear. The four people who worked for the cell phone industry opposed the moratorium, while the other 15 speakers supported it.
Sylvia Scott told the council that she has a cell phone and enjoys using it.
"I also like steak, but I don't want a slaughter house next door to me," Scott said, urging the council to go forward with the moratorium to keep more towers from popping up in residential neighborhoods. "If we're going to put (cell towers) up, we need to respect this beautiful city we have and the people who love living in it."
Representatives from the cell phone industry urged the council to hold off on enacting a moratorium, saying fears of health risks associated with the towers are unfounded, that wireless technology is the wave of the future and imperative for public safety in the event of an emergency.
The issue of a cell tower moratorium first came up after neighbors voiced concerns over plans to erect a 60-foot Verizon cell tower on the property of the Apostolic Faith Church in the 200 block of Harris Street. Residents claimed they weren't notified of the pending project until it was too late and expressed concerns over health and safety risks and negative neighborhood impacts.
With the project already approved by the city's planning commission and design review board, the council told upset residents that its hands were tied, and neighbors' only recourse would be through the courts. However, some on the council did pledge to craft an ordinance regulating cell towers that might prevent such a scenario from playing out in the future.
The idea behind the 45-day moratorium was to halt all pending or future applications for cell tower projects until the council had time to craft a new ordinance that addressed residents' concerns. But, to enact an emergency moratorium, the council needed a four-fifths vote.
Councilmen Chris Kerrigan and Larry Glass clearly voiced their support for the moratorium, saying it was necessary to halt all applications, both pending and future, until the council could come up with a long-term solution.
Councilman Mike Jones, however, said he didn't see the urgent need for a moratorium, adding that he worried it might take the council far longer than expected to come up with a long-term ordinance.
"I'm very concerned about the message this would send to our business community," Jones said. "I think we're going to kill something here that we don't know enough about."
Councilwoman Polly Endert agreed, saying that she didn't think the moratorium was the answer.
It was then clear the council didn't have the votes needed to enact the moratorium, and it slowly switched gears, deciding to direct staff to come back with a proposed ordinance that it could then tweak before passing along to the city's planning commission. With nothing to hold up future applications, Kerrigan said the council has an obligation to work quickly and it was decided city staff would return a proposed ordinance at the council's second meeting in December.
In other matters, the council voted unanimously to hike the city's garbage rates from $18.55 a month to $19.80 a month for average residential customers, then again to $21.39 a month starting in January. The rate increases were put in place to offset fee hikes charged to the city by the Humboldt Waste Management Authority.
The authority's executive director, Jim Test, explained to the council that its approximate 35 percent increase in fees it charges the city since July is entirely due to increased operating expenses, mostly due to the cost of fuel.
"Diesel rates flew higher and faster than a kite in a wind storm, and our rates went with them," Test explained, adding that the authority sends 10 to 15 trucks of garbage every day to landfills in Anderson and Oregon.
As of the Times-Standard's deadline, the council had yet to consider agenda items on an ordinance regulating gang associations, the city's parking meter replacement project or the election of the council's mayor pro tem.
Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or tgreenson@times-standard.com
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