>
>I was wondering if there are any Los Angeles area folks out there who have
>the scoop on what, if any, tower friendly areas exist in the Pasadena/San
>Fernando/Valencia region of LA County. I will be embarking on a house hunt
>in this area in the coming month, and was hoping that there is a native
>sage(s) out there who might be able to steer me in the right direction away
>from deed covenants and nasty zoning boards. My girlfriend's two dogs, my
>cat, and my meager collection of HF antennas are soon to be in need of a
>new home.
>
>If you can help, please reply direct to mtope@iu.net.
>
>73 de Mike, W4EF (soon to be W4EF/6)
>
>P.S. Hope this qualifies for the contest reflector (I promise to use the
>antennas in a contest if I can find a place to put them up).
Hi Mike,
I went through a "tower trauma" in LA in about 1964. I was living in Canoga
Park in the San Fernando Valley at the time. This was actually within the
city limits of LA. As I recall it, I lived on postage-stamp sized lot of
about 110 by 63 feet with close neighbors on both sides and in back. It was
a typical congested LA suburb. I found a great deal on a cedar pole that
was 110 feet long and bought it for $150 (all 4500 lb of it). LA refused to
grant me a permit on it so I put it up anyway, 18 feet under and 92 feet above.
Two days later, the city posted a notice on my front door about me having to
remove the illegal pole. I then set about making it "legal".
They persisted in not granting me a permit for the pole stating that they
NEVER granted permits for wooden poles. I pointed out that there were
THOUSANDS of wooden power and telephone poles planted all over LA. They
pointed out that they belonged to public utilities and did not need permits.
I knew other hams who had poles. Roger Mace (then W6RW) had four poles at
his Hollywood Hills home, however, he told me he had no permits for them! I
found another ham who had two poles up, but he too, did not have a permit.
I recruited these guys to help me find a privately owned pole in LA with a
permit and we found one! Using that as a precedent, I forced the city to
grant me a permit, which they did, if I would agree to install one set of
guys, which I did.
The secret for me was to find another permitted structure and use it as a
precedent for my permit. Worked for me in 1964. Might work for you in
1997. Good luck.
Stan (ex WB6ENX) w7ni@teleport.com
PS If it would help, I will look up my old address and you can probably
still get the copy of the permit they issued to me back then. This might
help in case they try to limit your height to a tower that will not leave
your yard if it falls. My pole would have caught houses to doors away if it
had fallen . . .
--
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