Safe Technology for Santa Barbara County

**** Please take action and forward this to your friends, neighbors and social media. We also need as many people to show up at the Board of Supervisors Meeting on Tuesday morning, Feb 4 ****

On Tuesday, February 4, 2025, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will vote on amendments to the County's Wireless Ordinance that will allow the telecoms to blanket our neighborhoods with small cell antennas, removing essential restrictions. This dangerous Ordinance removes notification, hearings, opposition, setbacks and environmental protection. Applications and permits will be rubber stamped!

Request to Supervisors:

Please vote NO, ABSTAIN or PAUSE the vote on the Wireless Ordinance and work with Attorney Julian Gresser. https://www.bbilan.org/blog/2025-01-24-bbilan-letter-to-santa-barbara-county-board-of-supervisors

Please read Dr. Kent Chamberlain's recent letter submitted to the Board before the hearing.

For more information, details and talking points for public comments go to:
http://emfsafetynetwork.org/safe-technology-for-santa-barbara-take-action/

TAKE ACTION

Send written comments by 5 PM Mon. Feb. 3, 2025 to:
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For details for written, zoom and in person voice comments:
https://ca-santabarbaracounty.civicplus.pro/2836/Board-of-Supervisors-Methods-of-Particip

What we want:

CEQA, NEPA, environmental laws and coastal hearing review

Liability insurance for harm and death

Radiofrequency monitoring

Proper pre-mailed notification within 1500 feet of proposed telecom facility to occupants

notification on the agendas, opportunity to attend hearings, oppose and appeal

Reasonable and safe setbacks, eg 1500 feet

Require Licensed professional electrical engineers to oversee building and installing, and to inspect, approve, sign and seal applications and permits

Proof of a significant gap in cell phone service on application
Adopt Malibu Fire safety protocol

Restore local government discretion on antenna location, so property owners can cooperate with authorities to zone cell towers far from bedrooms, classrooms and parks.

Prioritize WIRED broadband connection

Talking points:

The FCC states that safety belongs to the municipalities to regulate.

A small cell or cell tower adjacent to a home can reduce property values by 20% and 90% of buyers will avoid purchasing such a home.

We need more local authority over cell towers, not less, including that wireless companies provide liability insurance for harm and death. We must not give a free pass to the the multi trillion dollar telecom industry at the expense of notification, property values, dangerous fire risks, privacy, huge carbon footprint, health and safety.

There is currently no monitoring of radiation of cell towers, so we have no idea if the radiation exceeds the FCC’s outdated and obsolete exposure limits. Neither the FCC, carriers or installers will be monitoring. Who will be liable for biological harm?

Wireless facilities increase the risk of fires. If the supervisors vote for this ordinance, they are ignoring very dangerous fire risks.
Four Southern California fires have been started by telecom equipment and overloaded poles, costing billions of dollars. We need fire safety protocols, and to adopt the Malibu Fire Safety Protocol

The FCC states that safety belongs to the municipalities to regulate.

Wireless facilities increase the risk of fires. If the supervisors vote for this ordinance, they are ignoring very dangerous fire risks. Four Southern California fires have been started by telecom equipment and overloaded poles, costing billions of dollars.

1. The fires in Los Angeles City and County have shown California and the world that we are dealing with a climate crisis, with impossible conditions under which to fight fire.

2. Santa Barbara County must do everything in their power to prevent fires from starting.

3. Cell towers and their associated equipment can and do start fires.

4. Cell tower fires are electrical fires and they cannot be fought through conventional means (water suppression) until the grid has been cut. Otherwise, anyone putting water on a cell tower fire will be electrocuted.

5. Amidst Santa Ana conditions, cell tower fires can grow exponentially in a matter of seconds.

6. We are imploring SB County to implement Malibu's Fire Safety Protocol for electrical engineering rigor, and the federally required APCO ANSI for structural engineering rigor to help prevent fires in the first place.

7. We want a setback from all properties of at least 300 feet in urban settings and up to 1500 feet in rural settings. It takes longer to cut the grid in rural settings which gives the fire more time to spread and makes it harder for residents to escape from.

Telecommunication Ordinance Flaws:

• 20 feet setbacks for “small cell” antennas (unreasonable and hazardous)

No notice, no hearing, no way to oppose, no appeal (placard on pole definitely not adequate)

• Exemptions for coastal or environmental review (CEQA)

• Insufficient fire safety protocols

• No licensed professional electrical engineers to inspect, approve, sign and seal applications and permits for wireless facilities.

Please read (and share) this detailed Letter to the Montecito Journal about the SB County Wireless ordinance amendments that are scheduled to get voted on by the Board of Supervisors this coming Feb 4, 2025.

Please contact the Board of Supervisors and ask them vote NO or not vote at all on these amendments. They will take away protections for county residents, as well as increase the fire risks for all.

The letter can be found on page 11 and 20: https://issuu.com/santabarbarasentinel/docs/_mj_sop_layout_31_1_full