The Palo Alto City Council on Monday night allowed Verizon to install 11 new cell towers on telephone poles in four neighborhoods despite the opposition of some residents who had appealed such a move.

The council voted 6-3 — with Karen Holman, Lydia Kou and Greg Tanaka opposed — to approve Verizon’s plan, which had been endorsed by the Architectural Review Board and approved by the city’s planning director in March.

Residents appealing the decision argued the planned towers are an eyesore and likely aren’t even needed to to boost cell service. They said the devices should be placed underground, as Verizon has done in some other California cities.

“We do not want to live in an antenna farm,” resident Jerry Fan said, noting that other cell carriers also plan to install cell towers in the city and suggesting the council’s approval would set a precedent. “There’s no need for this blight in our neighborhoods. … There’s no guarantee anyone’s cell coverage will be better with these nodes.”

Verizon contended it could not find suitable sites in the city to place the equipment completely underground. Regardless, the company added, fans to cool the equipment and sump pumps would be too noisy to comply with city rules.

“We haven’t fully engineered a vault to put in these locations; it’s a problem of space,” a Verizon representative said, suggesting that some of 82 additional planned Verizon towers in other areas of the city could go underground.

A substitute recommendation to have Verizon work with city staff to find alternate sites where all equipment could be placed underground fell a vote short of passing, with council members Holman, Kou, Tanaka and Tom DuBois in favor of that plan.

“If the site is not good enough for you, move to another site for it to be vaulted and if that vault doesn’t work for you, just don’t do it, it’s as simple as that,” said Kou, who floated the substitute proposal.

Although Councilman Adrian Fine said no data other than anecdotal information was presented to prove the devices are needed to boost service, the majority voted in favor of Verizon out of caution that the new devices would be necessary for people to communicate if a disaster occurs. There currently are roughly 90 cell antennas distributed throughout the city.

“The most important thing we’re voting on is safety,” Mayor Liz Kniss said.

Councilman Greg Scharff noted that the city has no plan to underground utilities “for the vast majority of the city,” even though the city’s Comprehensive Plan says that would be preferred for financial reasons. Residents appealing the decision pointed to that policy in their argument.

“My memory is it would cost $150 million to underground all utilities and that was several years ago,” Scharff said.

The 11 antennas will be erected in the Midtown, Palo Verde, St. Claire Gardens and South of Midtown neighborhoods.