Neighbors to appeal antenna project Neighbors to appeal antenna project (January 28, 2004)

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

Residents of Lucky Avenue in West Menlo Park are seeking to overturn the county's approval of a Verizon Wireless antenna project in their neighborhood.

The project includes mounting nine, 4-foot-high panel antennas on the roof of 3603 Alameda de las Pulgas, at the corner of Avy Avenue, as well as constructing seven equipment cabinets totaling 243-square-feet in the parking lot along the rear property line.

Jarmo Ylisikkila, whose home on Lucky Avenue is directly behind the building where the antennas are to go, said an appeal of the project's conditional use permit will be filed this week.

The permit for the project was approved, with conditions, by George Bergman, the San Mateo County zoning hearing officer, at a three-hour hearing January 15.

Neighborhood concerns include the visual impacts of the antennas, lower property values due to uncertainties about health risks from the antennas' electromagnetic frequency, and noise from the equipment cabinets' cooling system.

The building already has a similar Cingular Wireless antenna facility on its roof.

The county's approval of the project did include some concessions to neighboring residents -- the roof-mounted antennas are to be located 5 feet closer to Alameda than originally planned, and a 6-inch space between the equipment cabinets and the rear property line was changed to a minimum 10-foot setback.

Mr. Ylisikkila said the changes are not enough to lessen residents' opposition to the Verizon project.

"It helps me and my (next door) neighbor, but it does not help the rest of my neighbors," he said.

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