By Sarah Lombardo
What threatened to be an ugly dispute over an ugly antenna has turned out for the better. Pacific Bell Mobile Services and residents in the Congress Springs Park district have come to an agreement, prompting residents Bernie and Anne-Marie Vogel to withdraw their appeal of the Planning Commission's decision to grant a permit to the company.
"We're very excited about the solution," said Charles LePla, land-use planner with the consulting firm Planned Com. LePla was hired by Pac Bell and was involved in the negotiations with Bernie Vogel regarding the antenna.
The agreement calls for the initial antenna, a 34-foot monopole with three arms at the top, to be replaced with a slightly higher, slightly wider pole with the antenna encased inside, out of view. In addition, Pac Bell has agreed to pull out a pole currently holding ball netting at the park and replace it with the the antenna pole, reattaching the net to its pole and keeping the number of poles in that area the same. Extra landscaping to cover the ground unit that goes with the antenna was added to the deal.
The problem began July 24, when the Planning Commission unanimously approved permits for Pac Bell to construct four antennas in different locations throughout Saratoga despite complaints from some neighbors .
One such antenna was slated for construction on Glen Brae Drive at Congress Springs Park. Neighbors asked if the pole with the antenna could be built at the back of the park, but a representative from Pac Bell said that was impossible because of technological problems. Residents asked if the decision for the permit could be postponed, but commissioners denied the request. Saying they felt ignored and a little slighted, neighbors filed an appeal.
"[Commissioners] didn't want to listen," said Bernie Vogel.
But Pac Bell apparently did.
Vogel said he and LePla spent many hours discussing neighbors' concerns and Pac Bell's needs. At the end of it all, Pac Bell offered the redesigned pole to Vogel, along with the additional landscaping.
Vogel said he and his neighbors were never at odds with the needs of new technology; they were just upset at what they saw as a lack of concern on the part of the city for the quality of life in their neighborhood.
"We never said, 'Don't build it in my back yard.' We just said, 'Let's make it livable,'" Vogel said. "We really feel the city has not respected this neighborhood."
Vogel said he thinks what happened in this case could be used as an example to the city to avoid future problems, especially because the issue is sure to come up again with the explosion of the information age. "This is a really big issue because this wasn't the first pole or the second," he said. "There may be other poles."
Vogel said the issue includes more than just disputes over poles; he said the fact that he and Pac Bell were able to come to an agreement proves that the city could, and should, have avoided the whole dispute in the first place.
"Somebody didn't do their job here," he said. "If somebody [within the city] had spent their time, like I did, this could have all been avoided. Now, I think the city's going to start listening to us."
Because the new pole will have to be special-ordered and the removal of the netting pole and extra landscaping were costs Pac Bell was not planning on, the agreement means some extra costs for the company. But LePla said it will be worth it.
"We're happy to spend the money if it's going to address community concerns," LePla said. "It's money well-spent."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, September 4, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved