LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors this week held the first hearing of an appeal of the Lake County Planning Commission's denial of a plan to locate a cell phone tower in a Kelseyville neighborhood.

With Board Chair Rob Brown absent from the meeting, Supervisor Jeff Smith – who chaired the meeting in Brown's stead – said they would take public input and continue the hearing until July 26.

Smith said it was the request of Brown – whose district includes Kelseyville – that he have a chance to review the public input and be a part of a final decision.

Epic Wireless of Granite Bay, on behalf of Verizon Wireless, appealed the commission's decision to deny the major use permit for the project, set to be built on a portion of a 17-acre property at 5660 Staheli Drive that currently includes a residence, outbuildings and an unused walnut orchard.

The county staff report showed that Verizon currently operates nine cell antenna sites in Lake County, with the company planning 12 more sites planned within the unincorporated county, and the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport.

While the project does not meet general plan requirements including locating it away from residential areas, locating it on existing facilities and structures and properly camouflaging it to better integrate into existing conditions, the county planning staff proposed that there were legitimate reasons – including the applicant's plan to provide alternative communication options during a disaster – to find it consistent with the general plan.

While staff recommended the adoption of the project with numerous conditions, at its Jan. 14 meeting the commission voted to deny the major use permit based on its failure to meet the requirements of the Lake County Zoning Ordinance and the siting requirements in the general plan.

The original county planning report said the company reviewed “quite a few” sites – although it did not give a specific number – that were rejected for reasons including the property owners not wanting the tower on their property, lack of space or diminished coverage.

An alternative site analysis that Epic Wireless completed in April outlined tests for three other sites, including 4695 Cole Creek Road and 4820 Loasa Road, which were submitted for review by the Lake County Planning Department, and 6738 Live Oak Drive, which the Kelseyville Business Association asked be considered. The first two sites were considered either too far to the south or to the north, respectively, with the Live Oak Drive site requiring the tower to be taller.

Originally proposed as a 75-foot-tall “monopine” – built to resemble a pine tree – Epic Wireless representative Andrew Lesa told the supervisors that the plans were revised to reduce the height to 64 feet in response to community concerns.

Lesa said Verizon was proposing the new tower to broaden existing cell coverage in the Kelseyville area, lessen the number of dropped cell calls, provide faster data speeds for wireless devices and benefit emergency responders.

On the latter point, Lesa cited last summer's fires in pointing out connectivity issues that were experienced by the command and evacuation centers set up in the area.

In creating facilities, they select central locations, with Lesa saying the facilities now need to be closer to towns and traffic areas.

A third-party contractor for Epic Wireless also was on hand to tell the board that the tower project's radio emissions would be about 30 times less than the Federal Communication Commission's limit.

Lesa also noted during the meeting that he made a scheduling mistake and had missed being at the January planning commission meeting.

Of the 11 people who gave testimony, only two – a neighbor who said she can't get landline service at her property and Undersheriff Chris Macedo – spoke in favor of locating the tower at the property.

Nina Marino, who lives on Staheli, across the street from proposed tower, said the area is a small rural neighborhood, with single family homes, open space and vineyards. “This is a commercial, industrial project.”

She said the project violates the general plan, adding that if the company had representatives at the planning commission meeting they would have heard that the residents wanted to work with them to find another location.

Mark Borghesani also raised concerns about the project, questioning why it wasn't located in Kelseyville's industrial or commercial areas.

He said the company came to Kelseyville Business Association meetings to say where they wanted to put the facility but didn't offer alternatives.

Borghesani said they should have worked to keep it out of residential areas. “They didn't. This is right dead smack in the middle of houses.”

Sheriff Brian Martin spoke not about the location but about the need for wireless facilities in light of the transition from landlines to cell phones.

Since January, the sheriff's Central Dispatch center has received 4,228 emergency calls from landlines and 8,677 from cell phones, he said.

Recently, the sheriff's office installed mobile data terminals/computers in cars, and they rely on Verizon to adequately provide service for that equipment, which allows deputies to respond quicker to calls, complete reports in the field and transmit information during emergency calls, Martin said.

In addition to the emergency telephonic notification system the sheriff's office uses, it's also now using the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS, which allows them to send out emergency alerts over cell phones, which Martin said requires adequate cell service.

“These services are definitely important,” he said, noting that based on AT&T records, there are 18,240 landlines in the county.

Later in public comment, Macedo would echo Martin's comments about the importance of the services. He said such technology infrastructure is not optional for police and fire.

“This type of infrastructure now has become vital in order for us to do our jobs safely and effectively, and to keep people in Lake County as safe as possible,” he said.

In reply, Supervisor Jim Steele said he didn't feel the proper analysis had been done and said he hoped the sheriff's office would sit down with Verizon to get the coverage it needs.

“My question is then, where do you draw the line on analysis?” Macedo asked, explaining that they can come up with hypotheticals all day long, and that in the California Environmental Quality Act there are guidelines for dealing with analysis.

Smith said Macedo brought up a good question about where to draw the line.

“The line has already been drawn,” said Steele, faulting the project analysis. “They drew the line for the area of service and they didn't finish out the analysis. That's the point.”

Steele said Verizon has suggested the site of the tower, and that the public's concerns were not arbitrary. “It's actually going to have an impact on them and their property values.”

Lesa maintained that they did analyze other sites. Steele said they should take the suggestions from the Kelseyville Business Association and complete a more thorough review. “You should not short shrift the public's concern.”

Macedo agreed with Steele on putting the public first, adding that he looked at the business association documents and found no scientific or substantive data that the alternate sites would offer better coverage.

Smith originally had suggested bringing the matter back on July 12, but Epic Wireless requested July 19. With that board meeting already having the appeal of the commission's denial of a Dollar General store in Middletown, the board suggested holding it over to another meeting.

Ultimately, Smith had it agendized for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 26.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.