Request to Build Phone Tower Denied

Nextel Communications’ attempt to erect a 78-foot cellular telephone tower atop a Black Mountain ridgeline two miles south of Ojai was denied Tuesday on a split vote of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Supervisors John K. Flynn, Kathy Long and Frank Schillo voted to deny Nextel a conditional-use permit to install the tower along a Black Mountain fire road, due to the tower’s adverse visual impact on the Ojai Valley, said county Planning Director Keith Turner.

The proposal had drawn stiff opposition from residents groups in Ojai already sensitive to what they consider the proliferation of cellular towers in the valley.

Nextel had appealed a unanimous Aug. 7 decision by the county Planning Commission denying Nextel the permit it needed to move into the Ojai Valley cellular service market.

The company proposed a 65-foot tower with three, 13-foot multidirectional “whip” antennae on top. The tower also would have included 15 1-by-4-foot panel antennae and two 26 1/2-inch microwave dishes, Turner said.