COWETA COUNTY, GEORGIA COMMISSIONERS BEING SUED OVER T-MOBILE CELL TOWER SITING APPROVAL

Neighbors Sue County Due To Not Following The Rules Involving T-Mobile Cell Tower Permit Approval

By Jane CellTower. News Resource : The TImes-Herald, December 2010, Sarah Fay Campbell

Looks like T-Mobile has been making the rounds in Georgia siting cell tower siting lawsuits. On December 10, in Coweta County, Georgia, Superior Court, Park Road residents Rick Bevington and Bill and Mary Fowler filed the "complaint for declaratory judgement and appeal of the rezoning". They are represented by attorneys Frank Jenkins III and Peter Olson of Cartersville, Georgia, (Jane Celltower has recommended attorney Peter Olson, on the Cractt website since February 2010). The Coweta county commissioners did not follow the local zoning ordinance in siting the cell tower. So the neighbors are left to defend the mistakes made by the County in order that justice might be served.

In the suit, the plaintiffs allege that the actions of the Coweta County Board of Commissioners in approving a special use permit for the tower, to be located at 625 Parks Road, are a "manifest abuse of the zoning power and therefore illegal and void." The suit alleges that T-Mobile's applicaiton for the tower did not satisfy all of the criteria set forth in the county's ordinances. The suit speciafically refers to requirements for visibility studies and docmentation, certification from an enginner as to the tower's structure; adequacy to accommodate the wireless facility, and certification and structural analysis of the tower's ability to meet local, state, and federal structural requirements for loads. The plaintiff's seek declaratory judgement to have the granting of a permit declared void because it was done in violation of the Coweta County Zoning and Development Ordinance.

"It's unfortunate that a citizen would have to take this action to seek redress from his or her own representatives," Bevington said on Friday. "Hopefully, at the minimum, our suit will encourage the commissioners to develop a comprehensive plan for the placement of towers that satisfies the needs of the telecommunications companies and the citizenry of Coweta County," Bevington said. This goes beyond just writing ordinances, but involves strategic assessment, decision making and planning on their part," he said. "Real reprensentatives, leadership, and governance."