Features

Cell Phone Antennas, Ice Rink Top Zoning Agenda

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday January 09, 2007

The Zoning Adjustments Board returns to session on Thursday to hear requests by Verizon Wireless and Nextel Communications for use permits to construct a new wireless telecommunications facility that will host eighteen cell phone antennas and related equipment atop the UC Storage building at 2721 Shattuck Ave. 

Local residents have opposed the facility, citing concerns related to health, parking, and loading docks. Some neighbors fear that the radio frequency produced by telecom antennae could cause cancer and interfere with medical devices. The item was remanded back to ZAB from the City Council. 

Nextel and Verizon, the applicants of the proposed project, have argued in letters to ZAB that the companies need the antennas in order to fill “holes” in their system. 

According to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, local governments are prohibited from rejecting wireless facilities based on health concerns as long as the stations conform to Federal Communication standards. 

 

Other matters 

East Bay Iceland will once again appear in front of the ZAB, on Thursday, to request the installation of a temporary outdoor refrigeration system on the southern side of the property. Board members had asked the rink to return with a report which shows considerable reduction in the amount of noise generated by the system. 

The board will also hear a request for a use permit by Timothy Carter to demolish an existing dwelling and build a two-unit building with three stories, average height of 32 feet 5 inches, floor area of 4,432 square feet, and two parking spaces on a 4,996 square foot lot.  

At the Dec. 14 meeting, ZAB members had concerns about the proposed building towering over the neighboring buildings on the east and had asked the owner to scale it down.  

The Trader Joe’s Project which had been approved in concept at the Dec. 14 meeting will come up once again on Thursday for further discussion. 

 

The board will also hear: 

• Request for a use permit to increase alcohol service at Ethiopian Restaurant, 2953-2955 Telegraph Ave., by adding service of distilled spirits to existing service of beer and wine, and by increasing operating hours from 8 a.m. to midnight daily to 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. 

• Request for a use permit to expand the kitchen and interior seating area of the Missouri Lounge at 2600 San Pablo Ave., add outdoor seating, reconfigure and reduce the required parking, and expand alcohol service to new seating areas. 

• Request for a use permit for the conversion of an existing commercial building (The Wright’s Garage Building) into a multi-tenant commercial building at 2629-2635 Ashby Ave. 

• Appeal of an administrative use permit to construct a fence over six feet in height along the rear property line at 635 Spruce St. 

• Request for a use permit to construct a two-story 944-square-foot addition to an existing single-family dwelling at 8 Panoramic Place. 

• Request for a use permit for a full service restaurant with beverage service of beer and wine with prepared food; including the retail sales of beer and wine at In and Out Deli, 2012 Shattuck Ave., and to extend hours of operation from 8 a.m. to midnight. 

• Request for an use permit to construct a 2,529-square-foot single-family dwelling, a 399-square-foot accessory dwelling unit, and a 483-square-foot garage on an 8,157-square-foot vacant lot at 156 Vicente Road.