Worried about visual blight and potential health hazards, a group of Lake Balboa residents is waging an admittedly uphill fight to block a 45-foot cellular phone tower from being erected in their neighborhood.

The battle typifies the struggles erupting around Los Angeles, pitting underfunded bands of neighbors against telecommunications giants.

Residents opposed to the tower have been holding weekly protests in the long-odds hope that officials will heed their concerns about radiation emitted from the powerful signals and the impact on property values from the potential eyesore.

But they may already be too late.

Officials say T-Mobile has received all of the regulatory approvals and is scheduled to erect the tower in July in the parking lot of St. Peter Armenian Church, 17231 Sherman Way.

“There is nothing more that can be done through the planning department,” said city zoning administrator Maya Zaitzevsky, who last year granted T-Mobile a conditional-use permit for the tower.

Zaitzevsky said notices were sent to residents living within 500 feet of the site, but no one filed an appeal during the time allotted after the initial approval.

But opponents claim they were never notified.

“Some of us only became aware that the city had granted a permit for this tower when our houses shook violently as excavation began,” said Cindy Kurland, who lives on Aldea Avenue behind the church.

“We are outraged that the voices of this community were drowned out by special interests.”

Larry Buck, another Aldea Avenue resident, has vowed to mount a petition campaign asking elected officials to intervene.

“I won’t have a cell tower put in my backyard – or what’s within 100 feet of my backyard – where we’re bombarded with (radiation) rays 24/7 and where our property values go down,” Buck said.

There is local precedent for neighborhoods beating the telecommunications industry.

Cell phone towers have been defeated in Glendale, Echo Park and Baldwin Hills, and late last year the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Palos Verdes Estates in ruling that the city could bar unsightly cellular towers.

Also last year, the county Board of Supervisors and the LAUSD board voted to support repeal of provisions of the 1996 Telecommunications Act that limit the ability of local governments to regulate cell towers based on their health and environmental effects.

However, with those provisions still in place, residents like those in Lake Balboa have to fight their battles over aesthetics and need of cell sites.

Residents living near St. Peter’s say the tower – which will be disguised as a cypress tree growing in the middle of a parking lot – will be unattractive.

They also maintain that adequate cell coverage already exists, with seven T-Mobile cell phone towers within 1.5 miles of the church.

But a T-Mobile spokesman said the demand for cell and wireless use has increased the need for towers.

It all has added to the frustration of protesting residents who feel they were sold out by the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council and city officials.

Last Sunday about a dozen residents protested in front of St. Peter’s church, attempting to gain support from parishioners. They plan to protest there again this Sunday.

A church spokeswoman said the congregation long ago signed a contract with T-Mobile for an undisclosed fee.

“We have been surprised there has been so much of an uproar because nobody said a thing when we were going through the process,” said Roxane Agopian, a St. Peter’s Church representative.

T-Mobile spokesman Clark Harris said the company had followed procedure in requesting a conditional-use permit from Los Angeles and that representatives had answered all questions raised by residents who attended the hearings held on the issue.

David Anthony Bernardoni, president of the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council, said that contrary to protesting residents’ claims, his organization had actually looked out for their interests.

“Our understanding is that we really don’t have a say on whether the tower is going to go in but that we could (only) give input on its location and making sure our stakeholders are protected,” Bernardoni said.

He said the neighborhood council was able to persuade T-Mobile to locate the tower farther from the property line and place equipment underground to reduce noise.

Wednesday night, residents took their complaints to the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council, where representatives of City Councilman Tony Cardenas’ office explained that federal laws pre-empt the authority of local jurisdictions on cell tower decisions.

Opponents, though, were not placated.

“I know we’ve gotten a late start on this fight,” Buck said. “But we’re going to do everything we can to fight this tower going up and try to win.”