Pacifica has already approved two cell phone antennas on residential utility poles, one in front of Terra Nova High School and one right outside a Baby's nursery window on Redwood Way.

While the city did not approve our appeal for the High School site, we are appealing the second site on Redwood way on 9/14.  please mark your calendars.  

Join our mailing list and get more info on how to submit letters to support the appeal at Calcoastresponsibletech.com and on Facebook

Please donate a few dollars, as the city was unclear as to its legal right to regulate these antennas, we had to hire a telecom lawyer to prepare a legal brief for them.

Pacifica should not be forced by Verizon and the telecoms to place cell phone antennas on residential streets.  There are safer options for our neighborhoods and property values, to place them away from homes and schools, in forested areas.  

Thousands of studies in the medical literature show clear associations between cellular microwave radiation and cancer, miscarriage, infertility, ADHD, anxiety, sleep disturbances, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune conditions and neurodegenerative disorders (bioinitiative.org). A study published in the 2018 real estate literature shows property values decrease 2-10% for homes within ½ mile of a new cellular installation.  If these 5G antennae are constructed, they WILL negatively affect our health, local property values, and the image of our neighborhoods and school district.  

AT&T already has a fiber optic network in our neighborhoods, with hubs 2000ft from most of our homes.  They plan to run the cable straight to our homes, increasing our data speeds 20x over DSL and Cable, 5x faster than 5G. They could even broadcast public Wi-Fi through this network which would produce 100x less radiation than 5G small cells.

Together we can bring BETTER, CLEANER, and SAFER technology to our city.

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If you would like to be appalled by corporate corruption and deception, download the planning commission agenda below and follow along the events of the 4/20 Pacifica Planning Commission Meeting with video documentation and see how Verizon representatives lied and mislead the City into approving 5G capable antenna at Terra Nova High School.  

On April 20th, in the midst of our public health and economic crisis, and despite being presented a petition of over 200 signatures collected in just 24 hours,  the Pacifica City Council Planning Commission approved the installation of a small cell wireless facility 250 ft in front of Terra Nova High School. They were under the clear assumption that this was NOT A 5G installation, even though the evidence below shows it is fully capabile of 5G technology. City Council Planning Session Agenda Item #3, USE PERMIT UP-96-18 (FILE NO. 2018-008)​

4/20/20 City of Pacifica Planning Commission Meeting Page (with attachments and full agenda packet downloads)​

PDF of PC Staff report with page numbers referenced below (does not include attachments)​

Meeting video starting at Agenda Item #3

During the meeting, Contract Planner Christy Usher,  Joanna Wang and Jacob Olander from Modus LLC/Verizon Wireless and William Hammett of Hammett & Edison Consulting Engineers were present on a virtual conference with the Pacifica Planning Commissioners and Director. All three proceeded to insist to the commission that the project, and small cell radio antennae proposed to be used WERE NOT 5G antennae, and this was strictly a 4G facility (24:56​, 29:36​, 1:02:27). They further stated that they didn't know why anyone would think this was a 5G project (1:03:43). This apparently invalidated the petition and any comments related to 5G in the eyes of the commission.  While the commission cannot rule on RF emissions due to the federal telecommunications act of 1996, they CAN rule on the direct effects that of that RF emssions has on the community.   It was also made clear during this meeting that if this project was approved, it would not have to come back before the commission if initially unused technology (5G) was subsequently activated (33:00​, 35:14). 

Modus LLC is a self-proclaimed 5G company with their website tagline "Pioneering 5G Mobile Networks" and Verizon boasts on their website the importance of Small Cells for their 5G network

The proposed small cell installation is FULLY CAPABLE of being used for 5G, given more infrastructure and devices rollout.  We further know this is part of a preemptive 5G roll out, because the Modus/Verizon Representative cited

page 4 of the PC staff Report (public agenda 1294-packet page 38): "The facility type proposed by the applicant incorporates a low powered antenna which services a small area in the immediate vicinity of the site. The objective of the proposed WCF (wireless communication facility) is to provide additional capacity to Verizon’s existing network in the area for shorter range coverage (up to 500 to 1000 feet of the installation)"

This range of 500-1000ft is characteristic of small cell 5G installations, 4G cellular ranges on the order of miles (1~10mi).  They claim the target is improving services to Terra Nova High School, however why do high school students or staff need improved cellular data coverage?

From the 5G NR Wiki "The non-standalone (NSA) mode of 5G NR refers to an option of 5G NR deployment that depends on the control plane of an existing LTE network for control functions, while 5G NR is exclusively focused on the user plane.[7][8] This is reported to speed up 5G adoption, however some operators and vendors have criticized prioritizing the introduction of 5G NR NSA on the grounds that it could hinder the implementation of the standalone mode of the network.[9][10]"

On Page 3 of the PC Staff Report (public agenda 1294-packet page 37) the"Project Description" mentions the two antennae RRU 4455 and RRU 4498 proposed to be installed.

RRU 4455 is an Ericsson 5G Rooftop Street Macro layer small cell antenna. The manufacturer website shows that it is equipped for "midband", "4T4R", "dual-band" and "w" which can be used for 5G frequencies, on top of the regular 3G, 4G and LTE bands B1, B2, B3 and B66.  This small cell street macro antenna will be capable of both 4G and 5G modes.  

The Consulting Engineering Firm Hammett & Edison Provide their Statement in Attachment H (public agenda 1294-packet page 95-98) which references the CommScope Model VVSSP-360S-M antenna, which recieves and transmitts signal from the Ericsson 4455 RRU.  The specifications for the CommScope Antenna shows frequency ranges from 1.695GHz to 5.925GHz.  While this range includes 4G LTE bands B2 and B66 which are North American LTE bands, it also includes "midband" 5G FR1 sub-6GHZ bands. Because there is an overlap of 4G and 5G bands, the applicants are able to say this is a 4G "installation" as that will be the initial use of it.  Due to the nature of 5G networks this single small cell unit can not support an entire 5G network by itself,  however the only thing needed for 5G usage of this WCF is a 5G device OR other equipped antenna or satelite within accessible range,  which they report is already being planned (38:25).  To answer Commissioner Bigstyck's question at (30:09) this being the first installation of a 5G capable antenna in the area could be a "make it or break it" precedent application/installation. 

 

More concerning, on Page 8 of the PC Staff Report under "Required Findings" (public agenda 1294-packet page 42) the city requires:

A. That the establishment, maintenance, or operation of the use or building applied for will not, under the circumstances of the particular case, be detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare of the persons residing or working in the neighborhood or to the general welfare of the City.

The applicant's response to this is:

"Potential impacts to public health, safety, and welfare from this project could arise from an unsafe electrical or mechanical installation; from radio frequency (RF) emissions from the antennas; from noise from facility equipment; or, from adverse aesthetic design of the site.

...

The City cannot regulate the topic of RF emissions beyond requesting reasonable information to substantiate a project’s compliance with FCC standards for RF emissions. The FCC has established two categories of RF emissions standards: public exposure limits and occupational exposure limits. The applicant has demonstrated its facility would comply with FCC RF emissions standards for public exposure limits. Since the applicant has provided relevant information prepared by a qualified professional engineer to demonstrate compliance with FCC RF emissions standards, the project must be considered safe from the standpoint of RF emissions."

We as a city CAN enact bylaws to ensure more protection to our residents from these small cell installations, sample ordinances that have been passed in other municipalities would be very straightforward for Pacifica to incorporate

The potential health effects of radiation emitted from these small cell antennae, cannot be compared to similar amount of RF emissions from other radio towers, as insufficient studies have been done on 5G frequencies, and those done show biological effects from the radiation.  Page 4 of Attachment H (public agenda 1294-packet page 95) erroneously states that millimeter wave is 24-47GHz (UHF decimeter wave is 300MHz-3GHz​, SHF centimeter wave is 3-30GHz, and EHF millimeter wave is 30-300GHz) however the point of that attachment is that the FCC has blanketed an upper radiation limit of 1.0/5.0 mW/cm2 for any frequency over 1GHz, which makes this error irrelevant.  The FCC, non-medical, independent and unelected government agency, has made this decision without sufficient health evidence to support this blanket inclusion.

There is considerable published data by scientists and physicians who have found concern about the effects of cellular radiation on biological systems. We should not allow the decisions of the FCC to possibly affect the health of our residents and children.  However, the local governments say their hands are tied due to the Federal Telecommunications act of 1996 that does not allow the city to rule on RF emissions beyond the FCC guidelines, which seems to have been equated with overall "health and safety" (1:23:18).  How is this maintaining the best interests of our community with regard to our health and safety? As stated above we can enact local ordinances to protect us from these small cell installations.

 

Now the practical question is WHY, and HOW will this help the city of Pacifica and its residents?

On page 10 of the PC Staff Report (public agenda 1294-packet page 44):

"The applicant proposes to install the WCF to improve signal quality in the area, which would increase data rates for customers to consistently be able to access wireless data services including but not limited to streaming videos. Improving service quality would allow residents to improve their quality of life in access to information that is an important part of modern home life and commerce for home-based and mobile businesses. For these reasons, the project would be an upgrade to the existing neighborhood.

-and -

Improving service quality would allow residents to obtain information on City services and emergency services more expeditiously, which modernizes the process and is increasingly essential to meeting residents’ basic social needs, including safety."

This sounds like it would be great for our community, that is riddled with cell and internet outages!  However, if we look back to the description of the antennae on page 4 of the PC staff Report (public agenda 1294-packet page 38), the applicant comments on the range

"The facility type proposed by the applicant incorporates a low powered antenna which services a small area in the immediate vicinity of the site. The objective of the proposed WCF is to provide additional capacity to Verizon’s existing network in the area for shorter range coverage (up to 500 to 1000 ft of the installation)"

The location of the small cell antenna (public agenda 1294-packet page 80), on the Terra Nova High School Grounds

"This facility was selected as the primary candidate because it was determined to be the least intrusive means to provide the necessary service to Terra Nova High School. The utility pole has the required clearances to meet all GO95 engineering standards and is void of existing field obstructions that would cause signal degradation. It is also further setback as compared to other technically viable candidates from residential dwellings to reduce visual impacts to the residential community. "

(46:16) According to the applicant, the small cell antenna will only provide improved function to an area of 1000 ft surrounding the antenna, and should be located "closer to the end users" in targeted areas like "highly densely populated areas" or areas with challenging topography.  Does Terra Nova High School need faster CELLULAR  DATA service? Do they have issues with their internet access, and don't all parties that need access to the internet have access through Wi-Fi or a wired computer?  Even if there is an issue with internet speed or connectivity, shouldn't we be focusing on that, as we should for our community? What is the percentage of people in Linda Mar, and Pacifica, that access the internet using cellular service, compared to WiFi and broadband? Is exposing our next generation to the highest level of this new cellular technology where they spend the majority of their time, trying to learn, fair to them? If we are concerned about emergency services and voice coverage, why use these expensive antennae with ultra modern technology that isn't even being used at implementation? Proponents of 5G tout its applications for driverless cars and remote surgery, two things that we do not need to test in our residential neighborhoods.  

Rather than subjecting ourselves, or children, and our visitors to under-researched high energy cellular technology that is known to cause harm, we should be spending our time, energy, and money on investing in tested and biophysically safer technologies to improve our Internet speeds and connectivity, namely FIBER OPTIC.  These Fiber Optic cables are already running into our neighborhoods, to hubs that are 2000ft from most homes and can currently get speeds similar to cable modems.  When the cable is run to our homes, our speeds will increase by 20x and far surpass what we can get with 5G, at a fraction of the energy need and radiation.  We can continue to use lower energy Wi-Fi at home with faster and more reliable broadband speeds, and save cellular for when we are OUT and need it for emergencies.  Let's use cellular for the freeways and rural areas that need it, not our city and definitely not our schools.