AT&T Takes County to Court

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AT&T Mobility asserts that its right to build a tower has been violated and has taken the matter to the Illinois courts. Citing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, AT&T contends that the state’s restrictions have violated that federal law, reports Law Street Media. 

By refusing permission to allow construction, the Monroe County, Illinois’ Board of Zoning Appeals and Board of Commissioners favored their own ordinances over the federal ruling, according to AT&T. In its complaint, AT&T stated that it is compelled to build a 155-foot monopole cell tower to address “significant service deficiencies in its personal wireless service coverage in the area.”   

AT&T wants the legal system to uphold the assertion that the Telecommunications Act “preempts State and local decisions that ‘prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services,’ and requires that State and local decisions denying requests to place personal wireless service facilities, such as cell towers, be supported by substantial evidence contained in a written record.” 

AT&T seeks an expedited court review and the granting of necessary permits that will allow it to continue construction. The ruling by the Board of Zoning Appeals, as recommended by the Board of Commissioners, represents an “erroneous interpretation of County ordinances [which] contradicted those ordinances as properly interpreted, as well as state and federal law,” according to AT&T.  

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