SIMI OFFICIAL PUSHES PHONE-ANTENNA LIMITS.

Byline: Douglas Clark Daily News Staff Writer

A planning commissioner who says the city was burned by a request to put up telecommunications antennas in 1995 is looking closely at a new proposal to install four antennas on the face of a building at 1900 Los Angeles Ave.

Dean Kunicki said he wants to know why the cell-phone directional antennas requested by Cox Communication have to be visible when the city has provided remote sites that are actually cheaper than applying for a special-use permit needed for building installation.

``We were told we had no choice,'' he said. ``But we had more flexibility than we thought. And when those antennas went up, I had calls like you couldn't believe (from unhappy residents).''

The Planning Commission will meet with Cox officials at 7 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road, to discuss the request to put panels of antennas on the south, west and east walls of the New Freedom Financial building at the corner of Erringer Road and Los Angeles Avenue.

On Dec. 6, 1995, the Planning Commission approved the installation of 15 AT&T antennas on top of the Simi Health Care building at 1350 Los Angeles Ave. It was the first time antennas of that sort had been approved within the city.

Following an outcry from residents who said the antennas were ugly, the City Council put a moratorium on antenna installations until the city could develop a telecommunications ordinance.

At the same time, city officials created ``antenna farms'' near water tanks scattered on hillsides throughout the city to encourage telecommunications companies to hide their hardware.

Kunicki said he prefers that the remote sites be used before antennas are installed within the city at visible locations. He noted that the AT&T antennas are now being screened to block them from public view.

``Any antennas that (they) want to go on buildings . . . they're going to have to have an awfully good reason for why they can't put them up on a water tower,'' he said.

Cox Communication officials did not return phone calls Monday seeking comment.

But David Gilbert, a planner with the Simi Valley Department of Environmental Services, said the water tank sites were offered to Cox officials, who rejected them despite savings.

A special-use permit costs about $2,200 and four to six months to process, whereas remote site applications cost $290 and take mere weeks to resolve, he said.

``We gave them the opportunity to put their facility at the water-tank site. But they didn't think it was a good location for the (cell-phone) coverage. They need to cover most of Simi Valley,'' he said.

City staff has recommended approving the Cox request, which Gilbert said differed from the 1995 AT&T request in that no antennas would reach above roof level.

Also, they would be painted and stuccoed to match the color and texture of the New Freedom Financial building.

``The aesthetics didn't raise any red flags. We discussed it, and we came to the finding that the antennas would look better against the building rather than on top of it,'' he said.

Even so, Kunicki said he would ask some tough questions Wednesday.

``I was burned once. I'm not going to get burned twice. This is a different company, but darn it, they're in the same industry,'' he said.