AT&T Sues Ore. County for Blocking Construction of Its Cell Tower

AT&T for more than a year has been trying to place a 150-foot-tall cell tower with accompanying communications electronics on a 40-by-40-foot fenced lease area on a five-acre parcel of land in Lane County in western Oregon to provide and improve local wireless services, but the county has violated the Telecommunications Act by denying approval of the proposed facility, alleged AT&T in a complaint Tuesday (docket 6:22-cv-01635) in U.S. District Court for Oregon in Eugene.

RF engineers identified “deficiencies” in AT&T’s wireless services in parts of the county, caused by “a dramatic increase in mobile data on the network,” said the complaint. The deficiencies constrain network capacity “and can degrade service quality” for 5G wireless and FirstNet customers, it said. “If not quickly rectified, these deficiencies will result in unreliable signals, and customers will have problems accessing AT&T’s wireless network, particularly during busy usage periods.”

Engineers have determined that the proposed tower is required to remedy the deficiencies, to close an existing significant service coverage gap, and provide adequate service to AT&T customers, said the complaint. Every day that AT&T is prevented from installing the tower, “it is materially inhibited from improving its wireless services,” it said.

The county denied AT&T’s February 2021 application for approval of the proposed facility on Aug. 3 after a public hearing, an open record period and a comment and response period, said the complaint. The municipality found that the facility would be within 1,200 feet of at least 11 dwellings, and not all those property owners consented to the “encroachment,” as is required under local law, it said. The county rejected AT&T’s argument that enforcement of the 1,200-foot setback “constituted an unlawful effective prohibition of service under federal law,” it said. AT&T sought reconsideration in mid-August but again was denied approval Sept. 22, it said.

The complaint seeks a declaration and judgment that the county has violated federal law and an order mandating that the county grant AT&T’s application for the proposed facility and “immediately issue all permits and all other authorizations necessary” for its construction. AT&T also seeks expedited review of its complaint under Section 332 of the Telecommunications Act. County officials didn’t comment Wednesday.