Existing regulations mandate that cellphone towers in Los Angeles remain standing even after a major earthquake, it doesn’t matter whether or not they remain functional after disaster strikes. Now though The Los Angeles City Council has moved to make it obligatory for future free-standing cellphone towers to be built to the same seismic proof standards as public safety buildings and they must remain functional even after an earthquake.
The ordinance has been approved 11-0 but needs to return for another vote by the council. If it passes through the second reading the mayor has to sign it before it becomes law. It will not apply to existing cellphone towers in Los Angeles.
It’s imperative that towers remain functional after an earthquake since a communications blackout can delay emergency response time and put countless lives at risk.
LA’s last major update was nearly two decades ago, in 1994, and since then cellular and internet communications have become an “integral part of our society,” say officials in a city report.
The new rules will also not apply to towers that are attached to buildings, but they will be addressed when the city takes up possible seismic retrofitting requirements for buildings.
Prior to the vote, Councilman Bob Blumenfield said that the extra cost required to build the new cellphone towers up to these standards is going to be “marginal.”
Then again, you can’t put a price on life.
Filed in .. Source: nbclosangeles