Newport looks to clear its static

June Casagrande

Coming soon to a light pole or tower near you: cellular antennas

for the next generation of wireless communications.

The next wave of cellular communications will take form in tiny

phones so advanced that Web surfing, stock trading and sending

e-mails will become common uses for all cell phones. And though City

Council members found the technology exciting during a presentation

on Tuesday, they also got a crash course in some of the hard

realities of this brave new world.

The main lesson: Antennas are coming, and there’s nothing the city

can do to stop them. According to the Federal Communications

Commission, companies have a right to provide service in the city,

which means they can install their antennas here without the city’s

say-so. This is true even if city officials and residents have grave

concerns about the health effects the antennas can cause. As long as

the companies and their equipment meet federal health guidelines, the

city’s opinion on health effects carries no weight.

“The federal government believes that these health effects are so

negligible when a facility is placed correctly that they have chosen

to take the debate out of local governments’ hands,� Assistant City

Manager Dave Kiff explained, noting that federal authorities have

conducted extensive health tests.

Council members, led by John Heffernan, see a possibility of

turning this reality into a benefit for the city. At least two

communications companies are wooing city officials to consider

renting space on city streetlights, buildings, light poles and other

structures.

AT&T;, for example, has been eyeballing sites like the Oasis Senior

Center as places where it would like to install its antenna

equipment. Cingular has also expressed interest in leasing space on

city sites.

“Is this a business the city wants to get into?� Heffernan asked.

“Let’s look into it and know what we’re dealing with.�

It’s a question that residents will get to weigh in on next month

when the council considers two separate actions: A policy on whether

the city should become a “landlord� for such companies and an

ordinance that will govern the equipment whether it’s installed on

public property or on space leased by private businesses. Residential

properties, according to the ordinance, can’t be leased as antenna

sites.

The landlord questions center mainly around money: If the city

doesn’t get the revenue, owners of local commercial property will.

The bottom line remains unclear on how much money the deal could

bring into the city. But, for example, a site that Cingular proposed

to rent at the intersection of Coast Highway and Superior Avenue

would bring in $40,000 a year -- and that’s just for one antenna.

The ordinance is likely to come either way. In its draft form, it

seeks to protect residents from the effects of bulky, unsightly

equipment and obstruction of views. It capitalizes on the city’s

right to govern the size, type and location of the antennas, which

often look like 3-foot-long black metal boxes with slim metal

antennas several feet long sticking out the top. The proposed

ordinance suggests that only the most efficient and smallest

technology be placed in the city.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

[email protected].