BB&K Telecommunications Attorney Helps Stop Massive Cell Tower in Texas Town

18 Sep 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Best Best & Krieger attorney James Hobson helped a small Texas community prevent a major telecommunications company from building a nearly 300-foot-tall, lattice-style cellular phone tower along a scenic and historic road.

The citizens of Brenham, Texas formed a group known as CAVEAT (Citizens Against Verizon’s Enormous Antenna Tower) after Verizon had filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission on June 27 to build the tower along La Bahia Road. The road was originally an east-west Indian trail in southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. The citizen’s group contacted politicians at the local and federal levels, sought help from historic commissions and hired attorneys to aid them in their quest to stop the tower from being constructed.

Hobson, based in BB&K’s Washington, D.C., office, helped the citizens group understand the documents submitted by Verizon to the FCC, strongly urged the group to maintain local pressure for an alternative site for the tower and advised it to file papers with the National Register of Historic Places to determine if the landscape that would be affected by the massive tower was eligible for selection to the list.

On Sept. 10, Verizon notified the FCC that it decided to withdraw its application and canceled the project on La Bahia Road.

Court Approves County's Denial of T-Mobile's Request to Construct Wireless Service Facility

05 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an important decision finding that when Fairfax County, Virginia denied T-Mobile's request to construct a wireless service facility, the County did not violate the Federal Communications Act. Early in the case, the FCC had filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Fourth Circuit to alter its longstanding precedent by applying the FCC's recent "shot clock" order.

In response, BB&K attorneys filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of the City of Arlington, Texas, the International Municipal Lawyers Association, the National Association of Counties, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, the National League of Cities, and the United States Conference of Mayors urging the court to find that the FCC's order neither supported T-Mobile's position, nor required the court to change its view of the law. Mirroring many of the arguments made by BB&K in its brief, the court ruled that its precedent was "unaffected by the FCC's ruling," and held that the County's denial did not violate the Communications Act.

BB&K attorneys Joseph Van Eaton, James R. Hobson and Matthew K. Schettenhelm authored the amici brief in support of the County.

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BB&K Telecommunications Attorney Helps Stop Massive Cell Tower in Texas Town

Court Approves County's Denial of T-Mobile's Request to Construct Wireless Service Facility