Fairview Municipal Advisory Council Meeting – June 9, 2026
Fairview Municipal Advisory Council Meeting – June 9, 2026
The Fairview Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) met on June 9, 2026, to address routine approvals, a continued-use permit for a T-Mobile telecommunications facility, and public comments on various issues. The meeting included a presentation on upcoming public safety technology votes, discussion of fireworks ordinance implementation, and debate on remote meeting policies. The council approved the T-Mobile conditional use permit with amendments and deferred approval of the May 5, 2026 minutes due to a lack of quorum.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of the May 5, 2026 meeting minutes was moved and seconded. Voting resulted in one abstention (Councilmember Philbin) and two ayes (Higgins, Anglin). Chair Anglin declared the minutes not approved because a quorum was not present for the vote. The item was continued to the July 7, 2026 meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Sergeant Fenton Cully (Alameda County Sheriff’s Office) announced that the Unincorporated Services Committee would meet on June 24, 2026, to present automated license plate readers, a drone first responder program, and pan-tilt-zoom cameras. A Board of Supervisors vote is scheduled for June 30, 2026. He requested community input.
- Kelly (caller) urged the council to consider hybrid meetings rather than moving fully to remote format. He argued that in-person meetings have value, citing negative outcomes from remote learning during the pandemic.
- Carl Moose asked about paperwork for insurance claims related to county tree-well incidents and the proper procedure for reporting bicycle-pedestrian collisions on sidewalks.
- Fran Krug reported that the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a fireworks ordinance on June 8, 2026. She thanked the Sheriff’s Office and noted that a major public relations rollout is planned, including a postcard mailing to all unincorporated area residents.
- Kathy Langley (on item 1, continued) criticized the housing element as “state-mandated eminent domain” and urged local control. She referenced a Google Maps label “Coyote Pups” near the D Street site and described the area as wetlands. She advocated overturning the housing element via ballot initiative through the group “Our Neighborhood Voices.”
- Chuck Meadows (on item 2) did not object to the T-Mobile permit but raised process concerns: the county’s failure to track conditional use permit renewals (9‑year lapse) and the need for a separate track for federally mandated shot clocks. He suggested the MAC use aesthetic requirements as bargaining chips and criticized “astroturfing” by carrier supporters.
- Carl Moose (on item 2) criticized the planning staff presentation for lacking technical details (power, flux density) and called for a better explanation.
Discussion Items
- Item 1 (Continued) – D Street Historical Site Development Review – This item was continued from the agenda to the July 7, 2026 Fairview MAC meeting. Public comment was taken; speakers described the site as wetlands and expressed concern about housing element development. Staff clarified that courtesy notices would be mailed to neighbors before the July 7 hearing.
- Item 2 – PLN 2026-00012: T-Mobile Conditional Use Permit Renewal – Planner Maral Esmaili presented the application for continued operation of an existing T-Mobile facility co-located on a 153‑foot‑10‑inch PGE utility tower at 2718 East Avenue. The original permit (C-8558) expired in 2017; the facility continued operating under subsequent building permits. The project is categorically exempt from CEQA (Section 15301). Staff recommended approval, finding the facility consistent with county telecommunication standards. Council members raised questions about:
- Address inconsistency on cover page.
- Distance to nearest residence (45 feet vs. 300‑foot standard for facade mounts). Rodrigo Duenas (Planning) explained the 300‑foot guideline addresses visual and noise impacts, not health risks; RF emissions are regulated by the FCC.
- Generator use – confirmed as backup only.
- Aesthetic improvements – possibility of mural or artwork on equipment cabinets was discussed.
- Frequency of equipment testing and periodic compliance reporting.
- Condition for co-location (Condition 14) and whether AT&T had been properly accommodated.
- Typographical errors in staff report (page 6, page 9, page 11).
- Request for status reports to be provided to the MAC. Public comment echoed concerns about process and gave suggestions for strengthening the council’s negotiating position.
- Item 3 (Continued) – Continued to July 7, 2026 meeting; no public comment was offered.
- Chair’s Report and Council Announcements – Chair Anglin gave a brief report. Councilmember Philbin reminded of the annual veteran celebration on November 8, 2026 at 1:00 PM at Lone Tree Cemetery. Discussion included a request for more signage about the new fireworks ordinance.
Key Outcomes
- Item 2 – T-Mobile CUP Approval: The council voted 4‑0 (Farmer, Higgins, Philbin, Anglin) to recommend approval of the conditional use permit (PLN 2026-00012) with amendments:
- Include artwork or murals on equipment cabinets.
- Provide status reports (compliance, maintenance, FCC license verification) to both the Board of Zoning and the Fairview MAC at the 1‑year and 5‑year intervals (and every 5 years thereafter).
- The county will add a condition requiring the latest RF test results before permit issuance.
- Minutes Not Approved: The May 5, 2026 minutes were not approved because the vote lacked a quorum (2 ayes, 1 abstention, 2 excused). The item was rolled to the July 7, 2026 meeting.
- Staff Announcement: Subcommittee updates must be submitted to the chair in advance for proper agenda inclusion.
- Meeting Adjourned at approximately [not specified].
Meeting Transcript
Cool. Good evening. Welcome to the June 4th Fairview MAC meeting. We'll call the meeting to order. Start off with the Pledge of Allegiance. Member Higgins, will you lead us? Thank you. Can we get a roll call, please? Councilmember Farmer, excused. Council Member Higgins. Here. Council Member Philbin. Here. Vice Chair Rhodes, excused. Chair Anglin. Here. We have a quorum. Thank you. And we'll open public comment. Three minutes to speak on anything not on the agenda. Do we have any speaker cards? Or anybody online? There we go. Sergeant Fenton Cully with Alameda County Sheriff's Office. I supervise our real-time information center. And I just wanted to let the uh board know that uh and everybody uh attending this meeting that we will be uh moving forward at the unincorporated services meeting on June 24th. That'll be uh down in San Lorenzo, office O'Brande. And we will be presenting um automated license plate readers, our drone first responder program, as well as our pan-tilled Zoom cameras, um, and that will be uh eventually going to the board for a vote on June 30th. So if anyone would like to attend that, you're more than welcome to. We want uh community input, and that's all I have. Thank you. Yes, sir, it's it's June 24th on the uh unincorporated area. Committee, but the board can board date. The actual Board of Supervisors vote will be June 30th. Okay, yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. I have no other. Oh, I'm sorry, I have a caller. You're on the line. You have three minutes, Kelly. All right, thank you. Yeah, just uh the uh county administrator and the county council just uh talked about some new law that's coming in, and it's gonna give uh all the Macs the um opportunity or option or possibility. Uh and I think it's your choice. I don't, I don't think it's um that this is something some other somebody tells you to do this. I think you have to choose to do this, to do a lot more uh remote meetings. And of course that's lower cost, and that way then their idea is that maybe they don't have to send out staff person out to the middle of nowhere to meet to uh to uh you know uh work at one of these uh meetings, um, and that that would save them a lot of a lot of trouble. Um this is I and I just want to you know express my little my feeling about it's because I'm not sitting there going to all these meetings like you do, but uh the you know if if uh if there's the opportunity to do more remote meetings, I'd I'd say why not hybrid? Why not do do a few of these remote meetings or and uh do and keep doing the in-person stuff quite a bit because uh I think there's value in in-person. And you saw what happened, uh I think the pandemic was a big uh big lesson where uh they tried uh remote things, uh remote uh remote what was it, remote learning is what they called it.
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