Neighborhood Council No. 3 recently approved a wireless phone company’s proposal to install a monopalm—a cellphone antenna camouflaged in an artificial palm tree—at 2507 Royal Ave.

In addition, the Simi Valley Planning Commission last week approved a request from Cingular to install a monopine antenna at 490 W. Los Angeles Ave.

In considering such a request on private property, commissioners base their decision on how the project will look. They’re also requiring the company to plant actual pine trees and shrubbery with the monopine to make the area looked as though it were landscaped.

“The main question for us is, does this blend in with the surrounding community,” said Planning Commissioner Jim Dantona. “We want to see the best, most naturallooking placement of these things.”

Through a process known as stealthing, cellphone companies conceal their facilities in a variety of housings, such as flagpoles and artificial trees—monopalms, monopines and the like.

City Attorney David Hirsch said if a recent ruling stands by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, cellphone companies won’t be motivated to incorporate stealthing design when installing their antennas.

The court ruled in January that cities couldn’t deny permits for cellphone antennas in public rightof-ways, essentially in residential areas, based on aesthetics. The decision stems from a case involving Sprint PCS and the city of La Cañada-Flintridge.

That city is seeking a rehearing on the issue and considering other legal action. Meanwhile the Simi Valley City Council last month approved a moratorium on building cellphone facilities in residential areas.

Hirsch said during the sixmonth freeze, the city will monitor the court case and seek input from a telecommunications attorney and engineer as it rewrites its ordinances accordingly.