Another proposal to install Dish Network 5G wireless equipment in La Jolla has been met with opposition, as La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee cited multiple concerns about a project planned for Cliffridge Park.
The committee did not make a decision at its meeting Oct. 17, instead requesting more community discussion next month.
The Cliffridge proposal would encase antennas in two 30-foot foul poles on the park’s lower baseball field. The park, at 8355 Cliffridge Ave., neighbors Torrey Pines Elementary School, the Dan McKinney Family YMCA and Torrey Pines Church.
The foul poles, which currently stand 21 feet, previously were used by T-Mobile but were later decommissioned.
Dish Network is building a 5G wireless network, seeking to establish “more affordable wireless services and fast connectivity for businesses, students and households,” according to Maverick Becker, a consultant for the project.
Many of the PRC board’s concerns surrounded public safety and what some considered a lack of community engagement.
“Even though it’s been noticed … you should have reached out to other people,” trustee John Pierce said.
Moreover, as with two previous Dish efforts to erect 5G facilities in La Jolla, worries arose about the potential effects of associated electromagnetic radiation, mostly on children.
One proposal to put cell antennas inside the bell tower at La Jolla Presbyterian Church was canceled.
Another project proposed for a site near Stella Maris Academy triggered a protest by parents and students Aug. 23. The fate of that project remains to be seen.
“Everyone knows — or these people should know — that kids are more susceptible to [radio frequency],” Pierce said. “And having it by a school, a playground and a baseball field, I will never say that’s OK.”
Fellow committee member John Shannon said his primary concern is the proximity to children of the proposed Cliffridge Park 5G towers.
5G electromagnetic waves have a higher frequency than previous generations of wireless, which allows them to carry more information at greater speed.
Electromagnetic fields consist of non-ionizing, low-level radiation — such as from phones, computers, power lines and microwaves — and ionizing EMFs, which have much higher-level radiation, such as from sunlight and X-rays.
The highest 5G frequency ranges from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz, where “the big gains in speed of data transfer are really expected,” Christopher Collins, a professor of radiology at New York University, told Forbes magazine.
But, he said, the frequency where electromagnetic radiation starts to ionize and become dangerous is about 3 million GHz.
Despite their higher frequency, he said, 5G electromagnetic waves have “a smaller wavelength and does not penetrate the body as far as lower-frequency energy.”
Still, Shannon called it “a big concern” that people could be exposed to many times more energy than they have in the past.
“We all use the technology, but there are ways it can be implemented that could really lessen the risks associated with it, which are true risks,” he said.
Vice Chairwoman Janie Emerson encouraged a town hall-style forum to generate more community involvement and opinion. The topic could be discussed at the La Jolla Shores Association’s meeting Wednesday, Nov. 13.
“We want robust community notice and involvement” in the affected area, Emerson said.
Research published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology said it found “no confirmed evidence that low-level RF fields above 6GHz such as those used by the 5G network are hazardous to human health.”
However, Forbes reported, more than 3,500 physicians have cited peer-reviewed scientific studies pointing to possible risks associated with non-ionizing radiation, including cancer, cellular stress, genetic damage, reproductive changes and neurological disorders.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences said that “in the age of cellular telephones, wireless routers and the internet … all of which use EMF, concerns persist about possible connections between EMF and adverse health effects.”
The institute said additional research is needed and recommended “continued education on practical ways to reduce exposures to EMFs.”
Other PRC news
Projects OK’d: Two residential projects gained the committee’s at the Oct. 17 meeting.
A 5,784-square foot development at 8460 El Paseo Grande was endorsed on a 5-1 vote.
A proposed 12,929-square-foot house at 8081 Calle del Cielo ed by a vote of 6-0, despite a neighbor’s concerns that its size would be “out of character” with the neighborhood and that a gap involving an 18-foot retaining wall could pose a safety problem.
Applicant representative Claude Anthony Marengo offered to walk the property with the neighbor and discuss the project further.
Next meeting: The La Jolla Shores Permit Review Committee next meets at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, at the La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. The agenda will be posted 72 hours in advance at lajollaa.org. ♦
