The Malibu City Council on Wednesday unanimously struck down an appeal by Crown Castle Communications to re-open a public hearing on installing a new T-Mobile wireless node in Western Malibu, in a meeting otherwise focused on Earth Day celebrations and environmental awareness.
The meeting, which was moved from its usual time of Monday evening to Wednesday to allow for Passover observances, saw the case for the new T-Mobile cell phone antenna open and close for the last time, with Councilman Lou La Monte citing unpreparedness by Crown Castle as a reason to not allow for further appeal.
“When I got this thing this afternoon … most of it was discussing the fact that you only had a couple of hours to prepare an answer, and that was March 10, and now it’s April 16, and you send it in to us at 2:45,” La Monte said to Crown representative Carver Chiu. “So we’re supposed to go over all of this, and the reports that go with it, in the two hours before the meeting.”
“It’s ironic,” said Chiu. “Ironic is exactly the word,” responded La Monte.
Council member Laura Rosenthal opened the appeal for a vote and all five council members voted to close the case.
Find more comprehensive coverage of this council meeting in next week’s Malibu Times print edition. The original cell tower debate was reported by The Malibu Times in March.Â