Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Wireless Permits topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board denies NextG rehearing request over wireless pole permit
Summary
The San Francisco Board of Appeals on May 18 denied NextG Networks’ request to delay revocation of a wireless‑equipment permit near 15620 Seventh Avenue, rejecting a rehearing petition from the carrier and leaving the Department of Public Works’ revocation intact.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals denied a rehearing request from NextG Networks of California Inc. on May 18, declining to delay the revocation of a utility‑pole wireless equipment permit near 15620 Seventh Avenue.
Natasha Ernst, director of government relations for NextG, asked the board to postpone revocation while the Department of Public Works finalizes a new wireless permitting ordinance and begins accepting permit applications under that new rule. Ernst told the board the department is not processing related permit applications now and asked for ‘‘approximately two to three months after the new regulations go into effect’’ for NextG to resolve the site’s status.
Jeff Cooper, the appellant who brought the original complaint, opposed rehearing. Cooper told the board he filed his jurisdictional request in December 2010 and said he had discovered what he described as widespread noncompliance. "They are operating on 32 invalid permits," Cooper said, adding that "46% of the antennas in my ZIP code are not compliant." Cooper urged the board not to allow a delay that would, in his view, perpetuate noncompliance.
A Department of Public Works representative said the department expects to circulate a draft order and hold a public hearing on the new wireless rules on or about June 1 and that permit processing would begin afterward. Board members questioned whether the timing of the DPW action met the threshold for a rehearing and whether the claimed processing delay amounted to a "manifest injustice."
Commissioner Frank Fung moved to deny the rehearing request. The board voted 4–0 to deny the petition; the minutes record that notice of decision and order will be released.
What happens next: the rehearing request was denied and the existing revocation stands pending issuance of the board’s formal notice of decision. Parties who wish to contest further legal questions about permit processing and new DPW rules may pursue those matters through the administrative or judicial processes available to them.
