City Clamps Regulations on Satellite TV Dishes

Voicing concern about possible visual blight in San Diego neighborhoods, the City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved regulations for the placement of large, high-powered television satellite dishes.

The law, which took the council almost a year to adopt, met with the tacit, if not overly enthusiastic, approval of community planning groups and local representatives of the satellite dish industry.

A Planning Department report said the city should “specify that the intent of the guidelines (and the new, $120 permit that city residents must purchase before using a satellite dish) is to minimize the impact of the antennas on residential and commercial landscapes, while not impairing the reception of the satellite antennas.”

Under the ordinance, satellite dishes will be allowed if they are ground-mounted, not taller than 15 feet and in the rear 40% of a lot bounded by a solid wall, fence or hedge at least six feet tall. The council also set guidelines for landscaping and screening the antennas, and ordered the city staff to draft an amendment making sellers of satellite dishes responsible for telling buyers about the new licensing requirements.

Satellite dishes will be allowed in all zoning areas of the city, with the exception of steep canyon faces protected by the Hillside Review Overlay Zone and designated historic sites.

Councilman Mike Gotch, who led the drive to restrict the dishes, called the regulations “modest,” saying they “protected the rights on both sides.”

Anne McCullough, of the Navajo Community Planners, said the ordinance was “a good place to start. We’re going to need these kinds of regulations as the (dishes) become more popular and inexpensive.”

Prices of the dishes have dropped substantially in the last few years; a unit that cost $10,000 four years ago is now about $2,500.

Kingsley Boyd, representing the Point Loma Peninsula Planning Board, said “such strict regulations are imperative” in the city. The Point Loma planning group originally raised the issue of controlling the dishes, Boyd said, “because a lot of us have to look down on views of these monstrosities.”

Frederick MacManus, representing the Penasquitos Town Council, said numerous lawsuits would result without a disclosure requirement. Unless the city forced sellers to inform buyers about the placement restrictions, MacManus said, “they will not be willing to queer a sale. That would be setting up a legal mess, and we have enough litigation between neighbors in this city over walls and trees.”

Paul Piscatelli, representing the San Diego Satellite Dealers Assn., said his organization was “very sensitive to the concerns (about the potential of satellite dishes becoming an eyesore), although there are always exceptions to that rule. We do feel this is a base, a place to start, and we believe this is going to correct a problem.”