Council Blocks One Cellular Site but OKs Another

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday waded into the debate over the health effects of cellular phones, denying a proposed cellular transmission site in Hollywood but approving a similar unit near Marina del Rey.

The decision came as activists in a number of communities, citing cancer fears, have delayed or blocked installations of the so-called cell sites, which have been placed on scores of office rooftops--and in some cases schoolyards--to relay cellular phone signals. In January, parents of pupils in a Laguna Beach elementary school forced a cellular company to remove a microwave dish that the school had allowed on its property in exchange for rent. Last year, an activist persuaded the West Hollywood City Council to quash three cellular permit applications.

In the latest battles, two resident organizations, one in Hollywood and the other in Marina del Rey, fought AirTouch Communications Inc. over plans to place cell sites in those areas.

After city zoning officials approved the plans, Hollywood and Marina del Rey neighborhood groups appealed to the City Council. On Wednesday, the council voted 12 to 2 to block the Hollywood project, but gave the Marina plan a unanimous go-ahead.

Council President John Ferraro marshaled council opposition to the Hollywood location after noting heavy opposition from a local homeowners group, said Renee Weitzer, Ferraro’s planning deputy. “The residents had real concerns, healthwise, about the site, and we felt we should support them,” Weitzer said.

Cellular phone companies find such resistance frustrating, arguing that it complicates efforts to expand service.

“It’s just a shame that politics is again disrupting business in the city of Los Angeles,” AirTouch spokeswoman Melissa May said of the council’s denial of the Hollywood cell site.

In fact, the scientific research is contradictory, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in San Francisco. Cellular phones and transmission units, such as radios, produce electromagnetic fields, but scientists have not yet reached a consensus on whether electromagnetic fields increase the risk of cancer.