Neighbors protest Cingular proposal
By Cortney Fielding Staff Writer

PASADENA - A cell phone tower proposed behind a hilltop Christian cross has passions running high in southwest Pasadena and Highland Park.

Residents living near the San Rafael-area hilltop have banded together in opposition to a plan by Cingular Wireless and Hillsides, the home for children who have been abused or are at risk, which has agreed to rent land to the cellular company.

In recent months, members of the group of around 30 Pasadena and Los Angeles neighbors have written letters, passed out fliers and spoken out at hearings urging that the tower be rejected.

Residents have approached the fight from different angles - arguing Cingular's presence would create everything from unknown health risks associated with radiation to obstructed views of the hills.

"This project cannot go through," said Tomoko Copon, who is leading the group. "It's only 35 feet from my home. It just cannot."

According to terms disclosed to the city, Cingular would place a 35-foot tower disguised as a broad-leafed tree atop a flat portion of the ridge line owned by Hillsides.

The faux tree would be placed behind a large wooden cross off of Avenue 64 owned by neighboring Church of the Angels.

"They are commercializing a historic area," said resident Lorena Deuven, who said she doesn't like even thinking about its placement.

So far, Cingular and Hillsides have failed to win approval from City Hall.

While city staff argued the project would blend into the area and have a "negligible" visual impact on the neighborhood, a hearing officer denied the request for a conditional-use permit in June on grounds the tower would be incompatible with the surrounding neighborhoods.

The tower would have a commercial use in a neighborhood "composed almost entirely of single-family
 
 
dwellings and is located very close to existing homes," hearing officer Paul Novak wrote in his report.

The design and location would also compromise neighborhood aesthetics and views, he wrote.

But the fight is far from over.

Last week, the zoning board was scheduled to hear Cingular's appeal, but granted a continuance when the company wrote it wasn't adequately prepared for the amount of opposition.

Residents who packed a meeting hall at the Pasadena Conference Center for the hearing erupted in frustration when told of the continuance.

"I've never seen opposition" that had "this degree of anger," said Jennifer Moser, whose engineering and technology consulting firm, Moser Consulting, is representing Cingular at hearings.

One man was told to leave the room after he began shouting.

"They are taking this personally to the point where we felt very threatened," said Moser, who added she would be bringing security guards to the next hearing.

While they can become bitter, fights over tower placement are common occurrences, said A. Michael Noll, a communications technology professor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication.

"Nobody wants them around because they are unsightly," he said, "yet we all like having our cell phone."

cortney.fielding@sgvn.com