AT&T lawsuit seeks reversal of City's denial of cell tower

Graphic shows the proposed location of the cell tower that was denied by the Menifee City Council.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Voted down by the Menifee Planning Commission and denied by the City Council, AT&T Wireless hasn't given up on its efforts to build a cell tower in Wheatfield Park.

AT&T, under its parent company New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC, has filed a lawsuit against the City of Menifee, asking the court to overrule the City's rejection and force the City to approve the project. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, claims that the City's denial "has effectively prohibited AT&T from closing a significant coverage gap in the provision of wireless service" in the area.

The lawsuit also seeks reimbursement of any costs associated with the lawsuit.

The project, brought before the Planning Commission Aug. 14 and Sept. 11 and to the City Council on Nov. 6 and again on Dec. 4, was denied following concerns expressed by council members and residents about its placement in the middle of a public park, where children play on ballfields just a few yards away. AT&T representatives argued that the 70-foot tower, which would be designed to look like a clock tower, would not be a visual distraction and posed no danger to residents.

AT&T officials have argued all along that the area surrounding Wheatfield Park has a lack of sufficient coverage, even though the company has a tower on nearby Bell Mountain. Speaking for AT&T last fall, Alexis Dunlap said that federal law requires sufficient coverage in case of emergency response situations. Further, she said the Wheatfield Park site was the only site in the area where the property owner agreed to lease a location to AT&T.

According to Dunlap, proposals for an alternate site at Mt. San Jacinto College, Bell Mountain Middle School, and vacant land south of the college were rejected by the property owners. Valley-Wide Recreation & Park District, which owns and operates Wheatfield Park at La Piedra and Menifee roads, agreed to lease to AT&T a site adjacent to the community building between baseball fields at the park.

At the Dec. 5 City Council meeting, council members Lesa Sobek and Dean Deines asked AT&T to look harder at other alternate sites within the designated coverage area, including vacant land just west of the 215 Freeway. Dunlap said AT&T had not received “a viable response” from that owner.

The council’s decision came by a 3-2 vote, with Sobek, Greg August and Matt Liesemeyer voting to deny the project. Mayor Bill Zimmerman and Deines voted against the denial. Zimmerman expressed concerns over the possibility of a lawsuit, and whether the ruling of a judge in AT&T's favor would be not only costly, but might compromise the conditions the City had placed in the initial proposal regarding the tower's design, etc.

The lawsuit claims that the City’s denial was not supported by substantial evidence and that the City’s actions are preempted by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which regulates the ability of communications companies to pursue their business.

City attorney Jeffrey Melching said that “the relief sought by AT&T is principally declaratory and injunctive relief. They do, however, seek ‘costs of suit’, which is typically filing fees and sometimes expert and deposition fees.”

AT&T has submitted a separate proposal to improve cell coverage in an another area farther south in Menifee. The Planning Commission on Wednesday night will consider AT&T’s application for a cell tower, disguised as a water tower, to be built on the south side of Scott Road at El Centro Lane, east of Briggs Road.

The faux water tank would be built at the pump station of Eastern Municipal Water District, 16 feet from the roadway. According to the proposal, the site was chosen as the best among eight sites considered in the area.

Graphics show the proposed location and design of a faux water tower on Scott Road.

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