A wireless service provider has agreed to drop its lawsuit against Los Angeles County over proposed wireless antennas in Hacienda Heights under one condition — that the county approve a permit that residents have vehemently opposed for almost four years.

Cell phone company T-Mobile West wants to mount wireless antennas to an existing 151-foot Southern California Edison hilltop tower between South Frame Avenue and South Holmes Circle to improve reception in the area.

“Cellular companies don’t belong in neighborhoods,” said 34-year Hacienda Heights resident Cheryl Sewards. “Right now in our little community, we’re going to have three cellular companies in the area … that are not even a block away from each other.

“Our neighborhood is (saying), ‘We don’t want it, we don’t need it,’ and it doesn’t make any difference,” added Sewards, whose home is 100 feet from the proposed antenna site.

Residents have faced an uphill battle over the proposed project since July 2007.
Between September 2008 and February 2009, the permit was approved twice by county officials and appealed both times by dozens of residents, including 13-year resident John Chen.

“Our residents and community are really, really concerned about health problems,” said Chen, president of the Broadmoor Monaco Crest Homeowners Association, a coalition of residents who live in the area where the company is proposing to mount the antennas.

“Most people don’t like how close their homes are to the antenna, and it is not necessary,” Chen said, adding that the antenna would destroy the native habitat and reduce property values.

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