Citing rising legal expenses, citizens who filed a lawsuit against Fayetteville, NC and Crown Castle are now asking for the matter to be dismissed. As the Fayetteville Observer reports, although the citizens would still like to see the cell tower eradicated, they do not have the financial resources to keep fighting for its removal.
The 40-foot cell tower stands in the downtown business district. When it was constructed last autumn, both Crown Castle and the city of Fayetteville say that all necessary permissions had been granted, allowing them to proceed. However, detractors claim that all parties were aware of an impending challenge from townsfolk who say that the approval violated town rules. Rather than waiting for opponents to file their challenge, Crown Castle stuck to its agreement with the city and installed the cell tower.
“While it might be possible to challenge wrongdoing by City Hall, it is nearly impossible to compete on a dollar-to-dollar basis in litigation against the City and a huge telecommunications corporation,” stated the plaintiff’s attorney, Neil Yarborough. “Although they continue to assert the justice of their cause, it is apparent to them that between the City of Fayetteville and Crown Castle, this litigation will be made too expensive for these private citizens to continue to fund it,” he said.
The necessary certificates are in place and are still active, according to city officials. They pointed to an earlier draft calling for a series of five towers and noted that the height of the downtown tower was even included in these long standing plans.
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