AT&T Applies to Put 9 Cell Towers in Kensington: the Review Process and What You Can Do

AT&T has applied to put cell towers (which it calls 'cell sites') on public property at the following locations in Kensington on January 14, 2013:

123 Purdue

8 Highland

8 Sunset

96 Rincon (near the Kensington Nursery School and the Montessori School)

121 Windsor

110 Ardmore

245 Berkeley Park Blvd.

248 Grizzly Peak Blvd. (at the south entrance to the fire trail /walking path)

18 Highgate (at the foot of Blake Gardens)

According to the plans AT&T presented to the county, all of these towers will be created by modifying existing telephone polls. The polls are currently between 26 to 44 feet tall and are proposed to be increased to 45 to 53 feet tall. The two tallest cell towers are proposed for 8 Sunset at 53 feet and 248 Grizzly Peak at 50 feet.

On all nine applications, AT&T lists the proposed cell tower as not in an earthquake zone.  Depending on how you define 'zone', this is incorrect for all or some of the towers. The Hayward fault runs through Kensington and at least several of the proposed towers would to be located within the active fault zone, as usually defined by geologists to be within a quarter mile of a fault trace.

The county has given agencies, such as the Kensington Municipal Advisory Council [KMAC], until today, February 14th to comment on AT&T's application for the permit to construct the towers.

In a phone interview yesterday, Francisco Avila, the Contra Costa Conservation and Development administrator for the AT&T applications, clarified that although the agencies have a deadline of February 14th, for comments on the proposals, Kensington residents have a longer time.  He suggested that residents get  comments to him within the next few weeks. 

The applications list two ways of contacting Mr. Avila and giving comments on the cell tower proposals. They are:

email: francisco.avila@dcd.cccounty.us

phone: 925 674 7801

Copies of the applications and plans that AT&T filed (or most of it) are available at the Kensington Public Library.

There will be at least two public hearings on AT&Ts proposed cell towers in Kensington.

Feb. 26 7 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center organized by KMAC

The second, the county's public hearing on AT&T's cell tower proposals, according to Mr. Avila, hasn't been scheduled yet.

On the site nocelltower.com (2/14/13) is found the following quote:

“Cell-phone providers have the [federal] Telecommunications Act of 1996 working for them, which prevents municipalities from denying a project because of health concerns or when other providers have already been allowed to mount towers.” 

If this is true, what this suggests, among other things, is that once a community allows one cell phone provider to put in a tower or towers, that community has to accept all providers putting towers in.  So far, Kensington has no cell phone towers.