AT&T suing Columbus for violating the 1934 Communications Act
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – AT&T is suing the city of Columbus over a cell phone tower in town.
The company wanted to build a wireless telecommunications facility near the soccer complex on 2nd Street North.
County leaders agreed to lease the property.
However, city leaders denied the permit request after some complaints from residents.
In a civil federal lawsuit, AT&T claims the city denied the application despite meeting zoning requirements and violated the Communications Act of 1934.
The company said the new tower would fill significant gaps in its wireless coverage, and some towers are already overloaded.
It also reports that there were a few other acceptable locations in the city.
Although a business owner did offer a site that already had an existing tower.
“The city would rather come to a conclusion like that, instead of going to the expense of doing some type of lawsuit, which, you know, a corporation the size of A T and T trying to sue a municipality is a little off-putting for me. One, if everybody sued every time the city made a decision they didn’t like, you would see where that would take us. So, I was disappointed to see that they did this. I’m hoping, obviously, with Jeff, who is one of the longest-serving City Attorneys, I know that we’re in good hands with this. But, I would like to see them work with us to come up with another solution,” said Columbus Mayor Keith Gaskin.
AT&T wants an injunction from the court granting the application and permits while expediting a review of the case.
The city has until next Wednesday, April 23, to file its answer to the suit.
