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Mt. Baldy residents win lawsuit against proposed cell tower The Verizon cell tower was proposed for this area of Mt. Baldy. (Courtesy of Alison Denning) By Neil Nisperos, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin POSTED: 12/28/16, 5:37 PM PST | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO # COMMENTS MT. BALDY >> Verizon has until Feb. 13 to decide whether to pursue an appeal a judge’s recent ruling that denies construction of a 45-foot-tall cell phone tower near a scenic highway in Mt. Baldy without more rigorous environmental review. Area residents say they are pleased that San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Ochoa, who oversees matters relating to environmental impacts from developments, sided with them, blocking the project in a Sept. 26 tentative ruling that became final earlier this month. “We just didn’t think it was a good location,” 20-year Mt. Baldy Village resident Alison Denning said. “You have the entire national forest to put a cell phone tower, and we didn’t understand why they were putting it in the village. It was ugly. They wanted to put it up on this hill that catches the evening golden light, and it’s special to the residents. There are no trees (nearby), and it would be really obvious.” Residents and other opponents, who in court documents are called the Coalition to Keep Baldy Wild, said the county’s approval of the project was insufficient to satisfy California environmental law without a thorough analysis, called an environmental impact report. Ochoa’s agreed, his ruling forcing Verizon to produce an environmental impact report — if it decides to move forward — and effectively halting installation of the tower in the 800 block of San Antonio Creek Road for the time being. The proposed tower is a pivotal part of a larger project, which includes two additional towers, one in the Angeles National Forest and another near the ski area of Mt. Baldy, both which need the proposed Mt. Baldy Village tower to function, according to court documents. Ochoa ruled the environmental impacts of the three towers need to be reviewed as one project. The judge called the project “has been improperly segmented or piece-mealed.” Verizon spokeswoman Heidi Flato, through a statement, said the company has not decided its next step. “We are disappointed by the trial court’s decision to deny approval of a new Verizon cell site on Mt. Baldy,” Flato said in the statement. “Our proposed wireless facility was designed to close a significant gap in Verizon coverage and capacity, with improved network performance for this community and first responders.” Ochoa and his clerk signed off on the court ruling Dec. 5, according to Irvine attorney John McClendon, who represented the residents. Advertisement McClendon said the thoroughness and length of Ochoa’s detailed court ruling may dissuade Verizon from an appeal. “I’ve done this for nearly 30 years, and I was very impressed with Judge Ochoa’s very detailed and well-crafted ruling because his ruling read more like an appellate court decision than a trial court decision,” McClendon said. “You can see that by its length of 34 pages. The judge obviously put a tremendous amount of thought and effort into a ruling of this scope.” In June 2015, the San Bernardino County Planning Commission signed off on the Mt. Baldy Village tower, minus an environmental report, an approval that was appealed to the Board of Supervisors in October 2015. “It would be inappropriate for the county to comment on this case because the county does not have a stake in the litigation or the tower project,” county spokesman David Wert said. “The county neither favors nor opposes the project, and the county has no financial stake in it. All costs for the project’s land use consideration by the county, including the cost of any EIR, and all costs associated with this and any other litigation, have been and would be borne by the applicant, Verizon Wireless.” Not everyone in the community was opposed to the tower, Flato said. “The local fire department, public safety officers, and search and rescue volunteers voiced overwhelming support for Verizon’s proposal, as the facility would help to protect public health and safety by providing cell service in an isolated mountainous area popular with county residents and tourists for hiking and skiing,” she wrote. The tower facility would be camouflaged and located on a developed site with multiple existing structures and next to a row of utility poles and lines, Flato wrote. “The facility footprint is only a small fraction of 1 percent of the size of the 17.53-acre parcel, and the facility height is nearly 20 percent below the height limit for the zone,” according to Flato. “The facility would be at least 350 feet away from the nearest home.” Residents, quoted in the court documents, disagree with Verizon’s description. Stan and Jana Tibbits, who live at the top of a hill directly across Mt. Baldy Road from the proposed cell tower, said there are no other pine trees nearby, “just low-lying brush.”. And resident Christy Catalano said that the project would be “extremely visible from the road and surrounding areas,” and it “would most definitely distract and reduce the amazing scenic quality.” Denning and other residents with the Keep Baldy Wild group have long asked Verizon to find an alternate location. An environmental impact report would include the possibility and analysis of other locations, McClendon said. Flato, in Verizon’s statement, said San Bernardino County had spent more than three years conduction environmental and zoning reviews. She noted the only issue the judge ruled cogent was the impact to views. 12/29/2016 Earthquake: Magnitude 4.1 quake strikes near Morongo Valley - LA Times Earthquake: Magnitude 4.1 quake strikes near Morongo Valley A map shows the approximate location of the epicenter of Wednesday morning's quake near Morongo Valley, Calif. (Bing Maps) By Quakebot DECEMBER 28, 2016, 10:50 AM shallow magnitude 4.1 earthquake was reported Wednesday morning nine miles from Morongo A Valley in San Bernardino County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was felt over a wide area of the Inland Empire, but no damage was reported from the light temblor. The temblor occurred at 9:57 a.m. PST at a depth of 6.2 miles. According to the USGS, the epicenter was 10 miles from Big Bear City, 15 miles from Yucca Valley and 17 miles from Desert Hot Springs. In the last 10 days, there have been two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-earthquakes-4-point-1-quake-strikes-near-morongo-valley-20161228-story.html 1/2 12/29/2016 Earthquake: Magnitude 4.1 quake strikes near Morongo Valley - LA Times This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and this post was created by an algorithm. Read more about Southern California earthquakes. ALSO Series of earthquakes hits near California­Nevada border Twin boys die in South L.A. house fire Man fatally stabbed inside Target store on Christmas Eve was buying toy for young son, police say UPDATES: 10:50 a.m.: This post was update with more information on who felt the quake. Copyright © 2016, Los Angeles Times This article is related to: Earthquakes http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-earthquakes-4-point-1-quake-strikes-near-morongo-valley-20161228-story.html 2/2 12/29/2016 It’s no winter wonderland when visitors trash Southern California’s mountains The Daily Breeze (http://www.dailybreeze.com) It’s no winter wonderland when visitors trash Southern California’s mountains Trash and traffic problems from cars blocking roadways are causing hazards and headaches By Suzanne Hurt, The Press­Enterprise Wednesday, December 28, 2016 The Christmas weekend storm brought snow and bad manners to Southern California mountains. With more snow expected this weekend, authorities are urging people to abide by laws when traveling in the San Bernardino, San Jacinto and San Gabriel mountains. Winter visitors took home loads of snowy “White Christmas” memories over the past few days. But they left behind monstrous amounts of litter and traffic headaches from Wrightwood, Running Springs and Big Bear south to Idyllwild, said state and local officials at a press conference Wednesday, Dec. 28, in San Bernardino. “Please don’t trash California,” John Bulinski, California Department of Transportation District 8 director, said at a bilingual rooftop press conference at the Rosa Parks Memorial Building garage. Officials offered tips to teach snow newbies better mountain manners. California Highway Patrol Officer Juan Quintero, speaking in English and later Spanish, warned mountain visitors to avoid citations by carrying tire chains in their vehicles, not blocking roadways to install chains or play in snow, and not leaving plastic sleds or garbage behind. “It’s illegal to litter,” said Quintero, based in Lake Arrowhead. “Make sure you don’t trash the mountains when you come up here.” Traffic problems began Friday night and continued into Wednesday. The worst congestion has been on highways 330, 18, 38 and 138. Highways 189 and 73 also have seen problems, Caltrans spokeswoman Terri Kasinga said. More than 100 vehicles were stuck on Highway 38 in the San Bernardino mountains for more than four hours on Christmas Eve because drivers didn’t have chains, she said. Others were blocked on Highway 2 in the San Gabriel Mountains after people parked on the highway to rent snowboards from a nearby shop. Some visitors actually played in the snow on highways in front of traffic, Kasinga added.

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