T-Mobile sues Hoffman Estates
When Hoffman Estates village trustees rejected a plan last month to build a 100-foot cellphone tower at Cannon Crossings Park, some officials said the action left the village vulnerable to a lawsuit.
Turns out, they were right.
Wireless carrier T-Mobile has filed a federal lawsuit against the village asking a court to reverse trustees' decision and allow the tower's construction.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, states T-Mobile satisfied all the village's requirements through the zoning process to build the tower. The lawsuit also says the village approved a similar tower at the park used by Cricket Wireless, one of T-Mobile's competitors.
T-Mobile's attorneys filed the 15-page lawsuit earlier this month. Besides asking for Hoffman Estates to quickly issue all the necessary permits for the tower's construction, the company wants the village to pay all its legal costs.
Village Attorney Arthur Janura, who warned village board members of a lawsuit, said he's not surprised, but doesn't see the litigation as an act of aggression.
“There isn't much room there time wise to negotiate or work things out,” Janura said.
Janura planned to update the board and seek direction on how to proceed during the closed session portion of tonight's board meeting. Trustees Raymond Kincaid, Jackie Green and Gary Pilafas voted to deny the tower's construction at the May 16 board meeting.
Residents living near the park objected to the tower, saying it would be too tall and ruin the park's open space. They also argued there was no need for the tower, saying they do not experience any problems with cellphone reception.
The lawsuit claims the tower would help alleviate a “significant gap” in T-Mobile's coverage.
The federal government regulates cellular communication matters. If a body such as Hoffman Estates denies a request to build a tower, the entity must provide an explanation. The reasoning cannot be random, and must come from a list of criteria established by the government. T-Mobile alleges the village failed to provide such reasoning.
The Hoffman Estates Park District, which runs the park at McDonough Road and Nicholson Drive, supports the tower proposal. Renting space for the cellphone tower would earn the district $25,000 a year. That kind of income would pay for projects and take pressure off taxpayers, park district Executive Director Dean Bostrom previously said.