Seventy-foot cell tower moves forward in Lemon Grove despite formal city council approval

LEMON GROVE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) -– A 70-foot cell tower is moving forward in Lemon Grove after months of pushback, even without the city council’s approval.

Two council members recused themselves for living near the project site and the remaining three could not come to a consensus, so the planning commission’s previous approval stands.

The project was approved twice by the Lemon Grove planning commission following two appeals from the public.

The AT&T tower will be disguised as a mono-broadleaf tree and be built on the Christian Church of Lemon Grove’s lot, located along San Miguel Avenue. The location is near homes and a school.

Resident Jason Sundberg led the appeal, saying neighbors don’t have a need for the tower and taking particular issue with the appearance of it.

“The bulk and scale of this tower is increasing the visual pollution of our community. Nothing in the vicinity is 70 feet tall, no building, no tree, or anything else,” Sundberg said.

A church member spoke in favor of working with AT&T, and an AT&T representative gave their own presentation, noting after the first appeal they did made a change to the project.

“One of the commissioners had asked us to do one thing which was to be able to relocate the tower to the planter directly to the south. The reasoning for that was they thought it would be able to provide much more screening, given that the trees in front were fully matured,” Harlod Thomas said.

The tower would provide “first-net,” an AT&T nationwide high-speed broadband network that provides extra aid to first responders.

According to AT&T, this same first-net technology has been adopted by other agencies in the county including San Diego police and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.