West Menlo antenna OK'd over protests West Menlo antenna OK'd over protests (September 29, 2004)

Residents in West Menlo Park opposed to a new telecommunications antenna array near their back yards have been handed a defeat by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

Residents of Lucky Avenue were asking the supervisors to overturn the county Planning Commission's conditional approval of a Verizon Wireless antenna project at the Robinson & Co. building at the corner of Alameda de las Pulgas and Avy Avenue. But the appeal was denied on a 5-0 vote with no discussion at the September 14 meeting.

The antenna project includes mounting nine, 4-foot-high panel antennas on the roof of 3603 Alameda de las Pulgas, and constructing seven equipment cabinets in the parking lot along the rear property line.

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

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