The Santa Fe Board of Adjustment on Tuesday approved one of four AT&T proposals for hidden cellular-phone antennas, but postponed three others for various reasons.

Approved was the request for the Hotel Santa Fe, 1501 Paseo de Peralta.

AT&T agent Sean Milks said the new antenna will be built flush to a wall housing a stairwell that rises above the hotel's third floor. He said the antenna will be painted the same color as the stuccoed wall so it will be hardly visible.

Bill Bruno, a Los Alamos scientist who frequently lobbies against wireless devices, said a Columbia University professor recently has warned of DNA damage and higher frequencies of childhood cancers near cell-phone towers.

But board Chairman Charles Baldonado cut off Bruno by saying the federal government has precluded municipalities from considering the health effects of electromagnetic signals.

Before the Federal Communications Commission took away that authority from municipal governments, Baldonado said, the board often would go until 2 a.m. listening to arguments about the possible health effects of cell-phone towers.

Although health effects can't be considered, Bruno countered, the board should realize such towers can decrease real-estate values.

"Maybe we don't want to dwell on the health effects, but I am certainly willing to pay more for a home where I don't get cancer, where I don't get headaches," Bruno said.

Realtor Jane Tokunaga supported Bruno's argument. "You can bet (a nearby cell-phone tower is) going to have a negative effect on property," she said.

Project opponent Elena Benton, an electrical engineer, said AT&T's application does not include information about the number of channels and the power of the transmission that might trigger a requirement for an environmental assessment.

John McPhee, who works for the state Department of Health, read a letter from Wi-Fi opponent Arthur Firstenberg, who said such towers aggravate his sensitivity to electromagnetic signals — a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

According to the letter, Firstenberg is planning to buy a home within 2,000 feet of the Hotel Santa Fe. "I am not well enough to survive homelessness again," he said.

Three other "stealth wireless telecommunications facilities" were postponed.

AT&T's request for a new hidden antenna in a chimney at St. John's Methodist Church, 1200 Old Pecos Trail, was postponed until it is considered by the Historic Design Review Board because it is within a city historic district.

The request for another antenna at Public Service Company of New Mexico's Halona substation, 332 Winische Way, near the PERA Building, also was postponed pending a Historic Design Review Board hearing.

The request for yet another antenna at PNM's Fort Marcy substation at the corner of Murales and Bishops Lodge roads was postponed to give AT&T time to consider alternative sites. Dan Esquibel, a case manager for the Board of Adjustment, said neighbors had questioned whether the city had ever approved the substation that has been located there since 1938.

Milk said AT&T already has 16 to 18 cell-phone towers in the city but needs more service capacity.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.