Vote on Verizon monopine cell tower in South Lake Tahoe postponed

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - An overflowing crowd in the City Council chambers Tuesday were present to hear, and speak on, the appeal of a South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission decision to approve a monopine cell tower at the corner of Ski Run Boulevard and Needle Peak Road.

But they will have to return on September 3 to speak.

Mayor Brooke Laine was absent from the meeting due to personal reasons and the appellant's lawyer Mike Johnson said he felt the decision would be an important one and asked the appeal be postponed until all five members of the council were present to vote.

City Attorney Heather Stroud said they are under a time crunch due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules giving a government entity a 150-day window to deny a cell tower application. That would give the Council until the day before their next meeting on August 20. During the meeting, the Verizon representative contacted their legal team to get permission to waive that time requirement. He came back to council and said they are willing to wait until the Council's September 3, 2019 meeting.

After the vote was tabled it was decided to hold off on public comment as it would be a disservice to all voting to not hear the full conversation.

This was a very unpopular decision. Some people spoke during public comment at the beginning of the meeting, a benefit added this year to allow the public to speak on agenda items that they were unable to stay for.

During this time several people did speak. KRLT-FM owner Steve Harness offered his tower one-half mile away from the contested location. He said he'd previously offered it to Verizon who chose not to join them at that time. His company's current tower is on 1.8 acres of sensitive land so nothing else can be placed there except for the grandfathered-in radio tower.

Refusal of a permit for a cell tower cannot be medical reasons per the FCC, but they can be denied for property value and aesthetic concerns.

The September 3 meeting agenda will not be released until the Thursday before (August 29) but this will be a "time certain" item so those wishing to speak on the matter will not have to wait through the whole meeting.