There are three 95-foot American Tower Corp. (ATC) towers going up in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, on La Glorieta, Lago Lindo and Via de Fortuna—for now. Residents last month asked the Rancho Santa Fe Association at its town hall meeting to reconsider not only awarding the contract, but the location of the towers.
In their presentation, residents said the entire tower plan “needs to be reworked,” reported the Rancho Santa Fe Review, citing possible financial loss due to property value decline and noise. They threatened litigation if the contract with ATC is accepted. Board Member Health Slosar said a vote to sign the contract meant that ATC “will continue to work with homeowners to find tower locations or other cell solutions that work for our members. It is not a vote to approve the three locations on the map.”
The association’s manager said there is a community need and a lack of cell coverage in the town. The current Distributed Antenna System is not working, and most smart phones in these areas don’t reach homes, only roadways. The town’s technology committee has been working since 2015, on a viable solution for the town’s cell phone customers and found the three proposed sites on association-owned properties, according to the newspaper. The board urged residents to remember that this is just the start of the process and that ATC wants to work with the community further to find the best solution.
The county process, which includes Covenant Design Review Committee approval, board approval and a building permit and major use permit from San Diego County, as well as noise, visual impact and environmental studies, could take nine to 12 months. ATC also shared at the meeting that its plan is to make the towers look like mono-eucalyptus trees and showed photo renderings, but residents said that the photos “misrepresented the height.”
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