That’s the apartment building at 6609 Admiral Way (map), immediately west of Bar-S Playfield, whose fencing you can see on the left. Because of its spot high over Alki Point, this building’s roof has been home to cell-phone antennas for more than a decade (you can see part of the history on the site’s official city-permit webpage) – here’s a closer look at one group on the northeast section of the roof:
In April 2007, we told you about neighbors’ concern over a plan to add more antennas; this past June, we reported that the city had approved the plan to expand a group of Verizon antennas from 3 to 11. (You can read the decision here.) Neighbors challenged that decision, and after various delays, their case comes before the city Hearing Examiner on Tuesday morning, and they sent WSB a letter inviting anyone who shares their concern to show up and support them. Their major concerns are twofold — read on:
E-mailed to WSB by Karen Clegg:
At 9:00 AM, Tuesday, October 28th, neighbors from the small, single family neighborhood at the end of Admiral Way behind the Alki Point lighthouse, will appear before the Seattle Hearing Examiner to appeal the expansion of a cell phone antenna installation in their neighborhood. This will be the culmination of an effort that began early in 2007 when Verizon applied to increase their array from 3 to 11 antennas and AT&T their array from 2 to 6.
It’s unusual for cell antennas to be installed in a single-family neighborhood in the first place. The city has listed installations on non-arterial streets in single family neighborhoods as the least desirable of possible sites; the most desirable would be in an industrially zoned area. The antennas at the end of Admiral Way slipped through a crack in the siting process by being placed on the flat-roofed, non-conforming building next to the Bar-S Little League field.
Concerned neighbors feel the application process was flawed. The DPD waived the search for alternative sites required by city rules. The 17 foot square x 11 foot high screening around the 11 antenna array will add visually unacceptable bulk to a building that was slipped into the single-family neighborhood in 1959, when zoning was a lot looser.
The potential longterm effects of electromagnetic radiation is a wild card in this fight. While the federal government insists no studies have shown damage from cell phone radiation, many others, including prominent scientists, feel the jury is still out and insist more rigorous, large studies need to be done. The potential long-term effects are particularly important because of the Little League field next to the antennas and the neighbors whose homes on the hill are level with the antennas and will receive the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the antennas 24/7.
The neighborhood agrees with Mayor Nickels who, in 2003, said he feels cell antenna installations do not belong in single-family neighborhoods. (WSB note: Here’s a webpage about the proposal he made that year)
The appeal hearing will take place Tuesday, October 28th at 9:00 AM in the offices of the Seattle Hearing Examiner, in the Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 Fifth Avenue. Visitors are welcome.
Here’s a map to the Municipal Tower; the Hearing Examiner is on the 4th floor.
By the way, the 6609 Admiral apartment building is currently the site of a “stop-work order” posted by the city because of work on other antennas that DPD’s webpage says was being done without a permit.
ADDED 9:52 PM: Zoning map from the city webpage for this parcel, showing the apartment building’s location – with underlying zoning single-family 5000 (here’s an explanation of city zoning, by the way):
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