The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors has postponed a decision on the placement of a cellphone antenna tower for the second time despite a request by neighbors of the proposed site to hold the advertised hearing and reject the installation.
Verizon wants to place the nine panel antennas mounted to two poles at 1735 Las Tablas Road in Templeton.
The county Planning Commission denied the Verizon request in April. The telecom firm appealed to the supervisors, who had scheduled a hearing July 19.
Verizon sought a postponement of that discussion until last week, when they once again asked to put it off, in part because their attorney could not be present.
Jerry Rubin of Templeton, who opposes Verizon’s proposal, contends that the telecom firm has more than one attorney and that if one couldn’t be there Tuesday, then the company should have sent another one.
He and others argue that the proposed antennae would disrupt the tranquility of the neighborhood and lower property values.
Rubin and other opponents went down to San Luis Obispo from Templeton to have their say at the scheduled hearing, which board Chairman Adam Hill allowed. But they also wanted a decision.
Supervisor Jim Patterson agreed with them. He felt Verizon has had “ample opportunity” to make its case.
Other supervisors, however, disagreed.
Supervisor Bruce Gibson said, “This board has always given leeway … to both sides in land use issues.”
Supervisor Paul Teixeira and Hill sided with Gibson. Supervisor Frank Mecham recused himself from the hearing because his wife works for Verizon.
According to county planner Airlin Singewald, there are about 215 such telecommunications facilities throughout the unincorporated areas of San Luis Obispo County.
“However,” he said, “many of these sites are co-location facilities, meaning two or more facilities (say, one Sprint and one Verizon facility) are clustered together in a single location. This would be counted as two facilities even though they are both in the same location.”
The board postponed the Verizon Templeton decision until Sept. 27, at which time, they said, they would make a decision whether Verizon‘s attorneys are present or not.
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