T-Mobile sues county over tower

But instead, the board simply set the stage for a legal fight: T-Mobile, a cell phone service provider, has filed a federal lawsuit against Pima County to get its tower up and running on a plot of desert about 20 miles northwest of Downtown Tucson.

The site is private property, with a convenience mart surrounded by desert and homes. T-Mobile contends the site, in the 6800 block of North Sandario Road, is key to filling a coverage gap and would ensure quality phone service for its customers.

But the Board of Supervisors deemed the site was too close to homes — one residence is right next to the proposed tower — and that it not only would reduce property values but also would pollute the skyline while posing a public-safety risk.

In response to the lawsuit, the supervisors will discuss its concerns about the tower at today's meeting.

"They feel like they have an inalienable right to put up cell phone towers, and I completely disagree with that," said Supervisor Sharon Bronson, who has led the charge against the tower. "I didn't feel T-Mobile had sufficiently proven that this is the only site they could locate the tower on."

T-Mobile officials would not comment, citing the pending lawsuit, in which it claims there is a significant drop in wireless coverage in the Picture Rocks area, and that not having the tower places residents or drivers passing through the area at risk.

To get by in the region, T-Mobile has been relying on a shorter, mobile tower it calls a "communication tower on wheels."

The county granted T-Mobile a temporary permit for the mobile tower, which residents say hasn't moved in several years despite its wheels. But the permit expired in June, according to court documents.

That's when T-Mobile began to pursue a more permanent solution. The company settled on the Sandario Road site because of the area's geography and a lack of other options.

Three other cell phone towers already are in the immediate area, but T-Mobile has said it's impossible to connect with the existing towers to broaden its signal — a point Bronson and others are skeptical about.

One of the major thrusts of T-Mobile's lawsuit is the county Planning and Zoning Commission approved the firm's application for a conditional-use permit in March to build the tower.

Their approval, however, was based in part on an incorrect description of the area's zoning as industrial.

"During the public hearing, it was determined that the Hearing Administrator's Report, which was relied on by the Planning and Zoning Commission, incorrectly characterized the area surrounding the proposed tower location as industrial when the surrounding area is zoned as a rural activity center and contains adjacent commercial and residential uses," reads a Board of Supervisors statement explaining one of the reasons why the board rejected the plan in April.

A petition with 15 signatures from nearby residents and property owners was also presented to the board during the April meeting.

"There are five residences, five existing homes, that actually are touching that parcel where they want to put the cell tower," said Brian Johnson, who lives near the site and has been a vocal critic of the project.

Johnson said part of his reason for living in Picture Rocks is for the wide-open spaces. A mammoth cell phone tower would destroy that.

"Me personally, I spent my childhood in apartments in Queens and in Long Island, and I love being out and having the acre of land," he said.

But the tower also could cause significant financial losses to homeowners, residents say.

If there is one person who could lose the most from the tower, it's Azzam Taleb, who is trying to sell a home next to the site. If the tower comes in, he said, there's no way anyone would buy the property.

"Why would they even look at the house with a tower next to it?" Taleb said. "Nowadays, with the market the way it is, it would be a very tough sale. . . It surprises me that such a huge company like T-Mobile is fighting over such a minor issue. They can go somewhere else and make everybody happy."

Did you know

In 1992, construction was halted on a 240-foot cell phone tower outside Picacho Peak over concern about the visual impact on the area. The construction was halted out of concern visitors to the site during wildflower season would take pictures of a mountain adorned with towers, not flowers. A relocated tower was eventually built.

Since then companies have increasingly tried to hide their towers in sensitive locations to reduce opposition. Around Tucson there are numerous cell phone towers disguised as saguaro cactus, palm or pine trees and church steeples.

Source: Star archives