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It turns out Steve Jobs wasn't exaggerating all that much when he said
it can take three years to get a cell tower approved in San Francisco.

...

A seemingly exasperated Jobs addressed the problem in a July 16 press
conference. "When AT&T wants to add a cell tower in, oh, Texas or
somewhere, it takes three weeks to get approval in a typical community.
To get a cell phone tower in San Francisco, it takes something like
three years," he said at the press event to discuss the iPhone 4's
antenna issues two weeks ago.

...

City records for the past few years show that applications to build new
wireless telecommunication stations (the city's term for cell sites) can
take a few months or up to a two years or longer before a final action,
such as approval to build a new panel antenna is handed down by city
officials.

And this drawn-out process is well-known in the industry. "San Francisco
has one of the most complicated, burdensome, arcane processes in the
country, without question," said Patrick Ryan, adjunct professor of
telecommunications policy at University of Colorado, Boulder.

...

Panel antennas--which measure about one foot by four feet and about 8 or
9 inches thick--are the only practical option wireless carriers have to
bulk up their coverage in the city and county of San Francisco. The city
does not allow cell towers to be built because the local government
considers them an eyesore. So the best option for AT&T, T-Mobile,
Verizon Wireless, and others is to build panel antennas onto existing
structures--the penthouse of a tall building, the steeple of a church, a
utility pole--typically in clumps of three to 12. 

...

Sometimes carriers will remove their application on their own when they
run into too much community opposition, or when the process drags on and
drags up the cost, planner Ionin said.

A recent example is T-Mobile's attempt to put a new antenna on the
steeple of a church in the Mission District to fix what the carrier
termed "an identifiable gap in coverage." But after just a few months of
applying for the city permit, T-Mobile yanked its application in June
because of fierce opposition from the church's neighbors. According to a
letter from the carrier to the planning commission, T-Mobile did so in
order "to promote harmonious relations and engender community goodwill."

MORE: <http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20011857-260.html>