Phone Firm Wants to Lease Pole Space

The Conejo Recreation and Park District could stand to make $12,000 a year by leasing space on a light pole to a cellular phone company that wants to use it for mounting antennas.

Park trustees will discuss the Cox Communications proposal at their board meeting Thursday night.

If the board shows interest, park staff members would research the company’s proposal, which includes putting up three 4-foot digital phone antennas on an existing light pole on the baseball field at Thousand Oaks Community Park, said Scott Haney of Keith International Inc., a consultant hired by Cox.

In addition to the park district’s analysis, Cox subcontractors also would need to test whether the radio frequency for its new digital cellular phones would work in the area.

Cox has offered to pay the district $12,000 a year to use the pole, with an initial proposed lease period of 10 years.

But Tex Ward, the park district’s general manager, said he has not determined whether that amount of money is competitive. “We don’t know whether that’s the going rate,” he said.

“This is just a preliminary step,” Ward said. “At this point, the board will just vote on whether there is confirmed interest.”