A controversial application to install wireless communications equipment in a 30-foot-tall tower and other locations along the La Jolla Bike Path has been withdrawn at the request of applicant AT&T, marking a victory for local residents who opposed the plan.
A reason for the withdrawal was not given, and AT&T did not have an immediate comment to the La Jolla Light.
However, Doug Lodder, chief executive of Public Safety Towers LLC, which would build the facilities, confirmed in a statement that the application had been withdrawn.
“We look forward to working with the city [of San Diego] in the future and continuing to serve the needs of residents, business and first responders in the La Jolla area,” the statement said.
AT&T submitted plans to the city last year to install wireless equipment in the 30-foot tower along with nine antennas on six smaller mounts along the bike path. In the weeks afterward, the plan was the subject of presentations and discussions at local community meetings and prompted the La Jolla Town Council to hold a public forum on cell towers that was attended by more than 150 people Feb. 13.
The bike path proposal was primarily for the area between Nautilus Street and Mira Monte.
Many of those who have spoken against the plan said they don’t oppose installation of new wireless equipment but did not such a project on the bike path.
“I’m relieved that we’ve repelled it,” said La Jolla resident Chas. Dye. “I walk the bike path nearly every day and prefer not to contend with a construction site or motor vehicles performing maintenance. My primary objections were aesthetics and the destruction of the bicycle course that is enjoyed by so many.”
La Jolla Parks & Beaches board President Bob Evans said it’s “great to hear the cell tower project is gone. The only benefits for having it appeared to be some nominal lease revenue to the city of San Diego and AT&T’s unfounded claim that there was a need for improved cell service in the area. But the expense for this would have been a massive structure and blight in a very popular and well-used park and open space. It would have been an extremely poor tradeoff for the community.”
AT&T had said the project would “enhance broadband connectivity and capacity in the area for emergency service and wireless customers.”
Debbie Adams, who facilitates volunteer cleanups on the bike path, called the withdrawal “a wise decision on the part of AT&T” and added “I suspect the representatives were not familiar with the long history of the path and its popularity with so many of the San Diego community. Open space is a precious commodity these days, not only for people but also for the protection of natural habitation.”
The bike path application is the latest proposal for new wireless communication facilities in La Jolla that has been fought or withdrawn.
Last year, a proposal to place Dish Network antennas inside the bell tower of La Jolla Presbyterian Church was dropped following community opposition. Another proposal for a Dish Network rooftop facility near Stella Maris Academy drew protests from parents and students and is in limbo.
And in November, the La Jolla Shores Association voted 11-0 to oppose a Dish Network plan for two cell towers at Cliffridge Park. The proposal would encase antennas in two 30-foot-tall foul poles on the park’s lower baseball field. The foul poles, which currently stand 21 feet, previously were used by T-Mobile but were later decommissioned.
The previous proposals were for 5G wireless equipment, which has electromagnetic waves with a higher frequency than previous generations of wireless, enabling them to carry more information at greater speed.
Thus, several residents raised worries about the potential effects of electromagnetic radiation on children who frequent the areas.
Some hope the series of proposals will open the door to discussions that would limit or prevent those types of facilities from being built or even proposed.
“The health, safety and quality of life of La Jollans — and all San Diego residents — must be the mayor and the City Council’s top priority,” said Patti Garay, chairwoman of the Save the La Jolla Bike Path Coalition and a leading opponent of the AT&T plan.
She said she hopes San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, will draft an ordinance to address residents’ concerns.
“As council president [and] La Jolla’s voice on the City Council, Joe LaCava is in a unique position to bring permitting negotiations between the mayor, city staff and big telecom companies into the open, where the community has an opportunity to participate in these important quality-of-life decisions,” Garay said. “Without an ordinance on the books, San Diego residents are cut out of lease negotiations [with] … big telecom companies, forcing San Diegans to coexist with 5G cell towers and related equipment.”
Garay reiterated some residents’ fears that “wireless radiofrequency radiation is a fire risk. It’s also linked to a range of chronic and neurological diseases.”
Electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, consist of non-ionizing, low-level radiation — such as from phones, computers, power lines and microwaves — and ionizing EMFs, which have much higher-level radiation, such as from sunlight and X-rays.
The highest 5G frequency ranges from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz, where data transfer speed is greatest.
Research published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology said it found “no confirmed evidence that low-level RF fields above 6GHz such as those used by the 5G network are hazardous to human health.”
On the other hand, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences noted that “concerns persist about possible connections between EMF and adverse health effects.”
The institute said additional research is needed, though it recommended “continued education on practical ways to reduce exposures to EMFs.”
— La Jolla Light staff writer Noah Lyons contributed to this report. ♦
