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The City Council heard arguments from corporate representatives Tuesday who want to place 12 telecommunications antennae on the roof of the Oaks Theater and from neighbors who say the installations are unattractive and pose a health threat. 

The Zoning Adjustments Board approved a permit allowing Nextel Communications to install 12 antennae on the roof of the theater at 1861 Solano Ave. in November. Neighbors appealed the permit and the City Council held a public hearing to listen to arguments for and against it. The public hearing will continue at the council’s Feb. 27 meeting. 

The Telecommunication Act of 1996 prohibits any municipality from regulating the antennae for health reasons.  

“We can only consider the appearance of the antennae,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington who supports increased access to new technology such as cell phones. “I think there are reasonable ways to protect neighbors without wiping out access to new technology.” 

The placement of wireless communications antennae that support cell phone use has become an issue in Berkeley as the number of installations increases along with worries about health threats posed by the radio wave radiation the antennae emit. 

Sprint PCS recently withdrew an application to place several antennae on the roof of the Jewish Community Center on Walnut Street. Center directors decided against the antennae after they held a meeting in which members, mostly parents, expressed worries about harmful effects from antennae emissions. The JCC offers a variety of children’s programs. 

After listening to community concerns, the City Council adopted an emergency 45-day moratorium on all new wireless antennae on Dec. 19. It expires at the end of the month. 

Even though the city cannot regulate the antennae for health reasons, worries about radiation emissions are the main concern of neighbors. 

Neighbors of the theater cite recent studies in the United Kingdom claiming a growing body of evidence that exposure to radio wave radiation, associated with cell phone use and their supporting antennae, are potentially harmful, especially to children. The United Kingdom has recently launched a public awareness campaign geared to reducing cell phone use among children and teenagers. 

Dr. Jerrold T. Bushberg, a specialist in radiation biology and health physics hired by Nextel, told the council that there is no scientific evidence that wireless antennae are harmful. “This is a learning process,” he said. “There are scientists and commissions that have literally put years of study into these cases and I encourage people to consult as much scientific literature as possible.” 

Dr. Leonard Schwarzburd, who lives near the theater and opposes the antennae installation, said he puts very little faith in governing bodies and regulatory commissions.  

“They are asking us to trust the same regulatory commissions that gave us the Ford Pinto, Firestone tires and the PG&E energy crisis,” Schwarzburd said Wednesday. “There is a long history of these bodies failing the public.” 

Bushberg agreed that scientists have been wrong. “The best minds come to the wrong conclusions,” he said. “But if you look at history, they’ve been right a great deal more than they’ve been wrong.” 

Mayor Shirley Dean said the public hearing raised more questions than it answered. She said the council can’t consider health risks from the antennae but it may be able to consider the cumulative emission levels of other antennae in the area. 

“It is still unclear what the cumulative radiation levels are and just how we calculated them,” she said. 

There are several antennae installed and operating on the roof of the office building at 1760 Solano Ave. about a block from the Oaks Theater. 

The City Council will hold a special meeting on Jan. 30 to determine if the emergency moratorium should be extended. In order to continue the moratorium, seven of nine councilmembers will have to vote to approve the item, which was instituted as an emergency, necessitating the supermajority vote.  

“I am very reluctant to support the moratorium as it exists now,” Worthington said. “I think it is too extreme to stop all antennae installation citywide when there are areas where everybody agrees its a good thing.”