Dear Menlo Park City Council,
Although I serve as Vice-Chair of the Environmental Quality Commission, I am writing in here as as resident of Menlo Park and private citizen.
Please vote to advise staff to develop a Wireless Ordinance that amends the city’s Municipal Code to “include a process for the review and approval of wireless facilities and establish aesthetic and design standards” (Item agenda description for 11/17).
I understand that aesthetic and design standards may be the only remaining criteria that local authorities such as the City of Menlo Park can use to regulate wireless facilities on our public rights of way and in our backyards. While it’s unfortunate that potential local control over these installations declined substantially during the Trump administration, I urge City Council to adopt the ability to use these aesthetic and design levers (and any other possible levers) to the maximum extent possible, as other municipalities have done.
Retaining some local control in the form of municipal code over these wireless installation makes good policy sense. Doing so creates option value for the city, in case poles/small cells are proposed in areas that violate relevant city standards. Doing so allows our city the flexiliby to gain information about these installations much sooner in the process.
A good friend of mine who lives near me recently felt compelled to move because an AT&T pole was built on a public utility pole right in front of her house. In her case, the pole was maybe 25 feet or so from her actual house and was immediately adjacent to her driveway. In fact, the pole was so “adjacent” that it actually encroached on the driveway by a few inches. As a mother of young children, she was rightfully concerned about the known and unknown risks associated with having a wireless pole (and likely future small cell site) so close to her home. She tried hard to stop it, reaching out to a couple Council members, who tried to help her (thank you). AT&T was ultimately successful, and the installation is complete. Her family had to leave Menlo Park, unable to purchase another home to fit their needs.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Angela Evans
Menlo Park resident
