City Board to Hear Appeal of Telecommunications Tower Permit for Tower Unknowingly Built in Pasadena

Pasadena’s Board of Zoning Appeals on Thursday, April 21, will hear an appeal by telecommunications company T-Mobile to a Hearing Officer decision on May 5, 2021 that disapproved a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for an existing monopine (communications pole disguised as a pine tree) telecommunications tower at 2122 North Arroyo Blvd. on a site that’s partially located within Altadena and partially within the City.

The site is an existing Caltrans maintenance yard. North of the site is a California Highway Patrol (CHP) Station in unincorporated Los Angeles County, south of ithe 210 Freeway. To the east, the John Muir High School athletic fields and Pasadena Unified School District maintenance yard are located, and to the south is the 210 Freeway and single-family residential areas.

The monopine structure, officially described in plans as a “Major Wireless Telecommunications Facility,” has been standing on the site since 2015 after Los Angeles County allowed telecommunications equipment that was on the rooftop of an existing building in the Altadena portion of the property to be moved to a new 70-foot high monopine structure on the Pasadena side.

At the time of the equipment transfer, the applicant was unaware that the tower was being constructed within Pasadena city limits, thus the structure was installed without the approval of a CUP from Pasadena.

When T-Mobile approached the county recently to seek permission to upgrade the panel antennas on the tower, the company was informed the monopine is located in Pasadena, and that it had to start the CUP process and seek permits for both the monopine standing on Pasadena land and for the panel antennas to be upgraded.

The applicant said the installation of the new telecommunication panel antennas and ancillary equipment is intended to improve telecommunication service, technology and coverage. The facility’s ancillary equipment are on the Altadena side of the property.

At the initial presentation to the Hearing Officer on May 5, the applicant sought three entitlement requests: a CUP to allow establishment of the Major Wireless Telecommunications Facility in Pasadena’s PS (Public and Semi-public) zoning district, a Variance to allow a 70-foot high structure where the maximum permitted height is 50 feet, and a Variance to allow the facility to be located on a site less than 500 feet from another site with a telecommunications facility.

An AT&T and Sprint monopole structure stands on the John Muir High School site at 740 West Woodbury Road that’s directly east of the project site. The property lines of John Muir High School are about 50 feet from the project site, the Planning Department said, but the towers themselves are about 800 feet apart.

The Department of Planning and Community Development recommended disapproval of the CUP at that time, saying the required findings for the CUP and variances could not be made. The Hearing Officer disapproved the CUP.

The applicant filed an appeal with the Board of Zoning Appeals on May 11, 2021, and the Board scheduled a hearing on September 16, 2021. After the applicant requested a continuance and said they needed more time to provide additional information and justification, the Board granted the continuance, and rescheduled the meeting for Thursday.

With the additional information provided, including a summary of the areas that would be negatively impacted without the site and related propagation maps, the Planning and Community Development Department said it is now recommending approval of CUP #6832 for the site.

Thursday’s public hearing at the Board of Zoning Appeals begins at 6:30 p.m.

To access the hearing via video-conference, members of the community can go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87415262655 or call (669) 900-6833 and use the webinar ID 874 1526 2655.

Public comments are allowed during the hearing, although comments may also be submitted by email, to htam@cityofpasadena.net up to the end of the hearing.