U S West Communications Inc. filed two lawsuits against the city of Longmont, Colo., challenging a city council decision that denied the company’s application to raise a 100-foot monopole for wireless transmission.
The lawsuits were filed May 22 in the Boulder County District Court and the U.S. District Court in Denver, one month after the city council reversed a decision made in March by the city planning and zoning commission that approved U S West’s application.
Mick Conrad, Longmont’s deputy city attorney, said the city is looking at U S West’s legal claims and plans to file an answer. He noted, however, the city has not yet been served by the courts.
Brad Schol, planning director for the city of Longmont, said the city council’s decision to deny U S West’s application is based on conformance with municipal codes, but the greatest concern underlying the decision is aesthetics. The tower site proposed by U S West exceeded the city’s height requirements and was considered to block Western mountain views, explained Schol.
U S West said it studied an alternate site to share with Sprint Spectrum L.P., but found collocation there was not technically or economically feasible.
The company’s proposed site is 2,000 feet from a school, said Schol. The city supports U S West collating on the tower used by Sprint. Schol noted that U S West is planning to transmit from that site on a temporary basis.
“They don’t see it as a long-term solution … Sprint, U S West and the school could investigate the possibility,” of designing the tower with a multi-directional antenna to suit everyone’s needs, suggested Schol.
In one complaint, U S West “seeks the courts to mandate that the city of Longmont follow both the 1996 telecommunications act in accepting or rejecting permits and zoning variances,” said Corey Ford, vice president of business development and external affairs. In addition, the company filed a complaint because “the people who work there (in the planning department) appealed [the issue] to the city council in a method that did not comply with state law,” said Ford.
“The nondiscrimination provisions of the 1996 act have not been followed because other wireless providers have been granted sites similar to ours. We are asking for the ability to be treated the same as everybody else,” explained Ford.
In the lawsuit that addresses the Telecommunications Act of 1996, U S West alleges the city action is discriminatory because permits to build towers have been granted to other wireless service providers, and violated the company’s rights to due process and equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution. The company seeks compensatory damages incurred from the application denial, and attorneys fees.
In U S West’s lawsuit pertaining to local government, the company states that the Longmont planning staff recommended the planning and zoning commission deny U S West’s siting request based on aesthetics, but that the application was approved by the commission based on governmental prerequisites U S West met.
After the planning commission issued an approval, the planning staff recommended to the mayor and city council the decision be appealed.
“The planning staff’s appeal is procedurally improper and not supported by any evidence,” states the lawsuit. The city council exceeded its jurisdiction and authority because it “failed to apply the same review criteria established for the planning and zoning commission with respect to the requested variance,” says the lawsuit. A city code exists that “allows for an appeal of any aggrieved party,” but “the planning staff does not constitute an aggrieved party,” continues the lawsuit. Since the appeal was filed improperly, the city council did not have the jurisdiction to address the appeal, adds the lawsuit.
U S West said it filed the application to build the tower with Longmont’s planning department in December. The city planners sent letters to all property owners within 600 feet of the sites and received no replies, according to U S West’s lawsuit.
U S West Communications, a subsidiary of U S West Inc., recently won 53 personal communications services licenses in 14 states in the D-, E- and F-block PCS auctions.
