Council Upholds AT&T Antennas on Sunny Side Cafe

The vote was close, 3 to 2, Tuesday night when the Albany City Council gave its approval to placing 12 AT&T cell phone antennas on the Sunny Side Cafe on Solano Avenue.


The controversial antennas won approval in June from the city Planning & Zoning Commission, and Councilwoman Marge Atkinson exercised her option as a council member to bring the issue to the council for review. At the Tuesday meeting, she said she was responding to concerns raised by constituents, including transparency in the approval process and alleged conflict of interest on the part of a consultant hired to review the application.

Voting to approve the antennas were Mayor Peggy Thomsen and Councilmen Michael Barnes and Peter Maass. Voting against were Atkinson and Vice Mayor Joanne Wile.

The 14 speakers in the public hearing before the vote highlighted the wide disparity in views, ranging from those whose chief concern is an inability to get AT&T cell phone signals in large parts of Albany and those who believe the potential health dangers haven't been adequately studied.

AT&T filed suit against the city in federal court last week accusing the city of "unreasonable delay" in acting on the application, which was filed on Nov. 30.

One complication in the review process was occasioned by AT&T's refusal to release confidential information to the city's wireless consultant, licensed contractor Peter Gruchawka, because he is not a licensed engineer, according to the staff report for the council meeting.

So the city agreed to hire the RCC consulting firm, which has done third-party review of wireless applications for both Albany and Berkeley, according to the staff report. The firm's review of AT&T proprietary data concluded that a coverage gap exists in the area to be served by the Sunny Side array, the staff report said.

Using RCC, however, provoked allegations that RCC had performed work also for AT&T and thus was tainted by a conflict of interest. 

The gap in community views was readily apparent after just the first two speakers Tuesday night: former Albany Mayor and City Councilman Robert Lieber and Solano Avenue Association Executive Director Allen Cain.

"AT&T is a notorious corporation who is spying on our citizens and now is threatening you with a lawsuit when they didn't provide the information that was required on this application," Lieber said.

Cain said his web searches did not find "any illnesses that relate to a cell phone tower." He added, "I did find a lot of stories about hikers and people who needed to call emergency services." He also criticized "a city process that involves hitting a moving target."

Councilman Maass acknowledged the federal law that prohibits local officials from weighing health concerns in considering applications for cell phone antennas:

"The bottom line is this is a bit out of our purview. We can't really talk about health concerns. Nobody in the room or nobody up here can assure that there'll never be a problem. We don't know. But on the other hand, the information to my mind at this point is pretty thin that there are problems down the line. ... So we're balancing this concern about health versus the demand for the goods and services that these cell towers are providing. And right now I'd say the demand is outpacing the concerns for most of the citizens."

The antenna array is the second AT&T application to win approval in Albany. Earlier this year, the council upheld approval of long-debated installation on a San Pablo Avenue office building. AT&T sued the city over that application as well, a suit that cost the city $51,000, according to the staff report prepared for the Tuesday night council meeting.

The staff report said AT&T would likely withdraw its current suit over the Sunny Side Cafe antennas if they win council approval.

In response to a Patch query today, Wednesday, asking if AT&T will now drop the suit, AT&T representative Alex Krasov said, "We are reviewing our legal options in light of yesterday’s decision." 

---------------

For other ways to connect with Albany Patch, you can "like" us on Facebook and “follow” us on Twitter.