Title
VERIZON FAUX TREE TELECOM FACILITY (PA2025-0024)
Site Location: 1024 Irvine Avenue (within the service are behind the shopping center, adjacent to Rutland Road)
Recommendation
Summary:
A request for a conditional use permit to construct a new wireless telecommunications facility in the back-of-house service area of the Westcliff Plaza Shopping Center. The proposed facility's antennas and antenna supports will be concealed within the canopy of a 60-foot-tall faux eucalyptus tree. As proposed, the supporting equipment for the facility will be ground-mounted and screened from view by a new 8-foot-tall block wall. To accommodate the proposal, existing landscaping within the proposed equipment area will be removed, an existing trash enclosure will be relocated, and a 4-foot-wide sidewalk will be added to provide access to the equipment area. Due to the installation type (i.e., freestanding) and the request for additional height pursuant to Section 20.49.050 (General Development and Design Standards) subsection (C) of the Newport Beach Municipal Code (NBMC), the proposed facility requires Planning Commission review.
Recommended Actions:
1. Conduct a public hearing;
2. Find the project exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15303 (New Construction or Conversion of Small Structures) of the CEQA Guidelines, because it has no potential to have a significant effect on the environment; and
3. Adopt Resolution No. PC2025-010 approving the Conditional Use Permit filed as PA2025-0024.