Cellular Telephone Co. v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Borough of Harrington Park

90 F. Supp. 2d 557, 90 F. Supp. 557, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4427, 2000 WL 353386
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedApril 6, 2000
Docket97-CIV-3207 (WGB)
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 90 F. Supp. 2d 557 (Cellular Telephone Co. v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Borough of Harrington Park) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cellular Telephone Co. v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Borough of Harrington Park, 90 F. Supp. 2d 557, 90 F. Supp. 557, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4427, 2000 WL 353386 (D.N.J. 2000).

Opinion

AMENDED OPINION

BASSLER, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Desiring to alleviate coverage and capacity problems in Harrington Park, Plaintiff Cellular Telephone Company d/b/a AT & T Wireless Services (“AT & T Wireless”) applied to Defendant Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Borough of Harrington Park (the “Board”) for use and bulk variances and for site plan approval to construct a 100 foot cellular telephone monopole and a prefabricated twelve-foot by twenty-foot building for related computerized equipment.

After conducting six hearings at which four expert witnesses of AT & T Wireless testified, and after considering the testimony of its own planner, professional engineer and another expert’s report, as well as comments from objectors, the Board denied the application.

AT & T Wireless then filed this law suit claiming that the Board violated the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as well as the municipal land use law of New Jersey. It wants this Court to issue an injunction requiring the Board to approve the application.

The briefs of the parties interpreting the evidence are worthy of a play by Pirandello: AT & T Wireless emphasizes that the site, located in an Industrial Zone, would remedy the documented deficiencies in its communications net work while the Board, denying the existence of a significant coverage gap, stresses the overutilization of the site by the existing non conforming uses — a residence, two small offices in the basement of the residence, a one-story block structure with three business tenants along with ten eight-foot by twenty-foot storage trailers used by the businesses and the owner. To AT & T Wireless, the site is suitable because the zoning is appropriate and the use passive. To the Board, the site is unsuitable because of the chaotic condition of the many uses already on a corner lot, a little less than a half an acre in size.

The Court agrees with both parties that the litigation can be resolved on their cross motions for summary judgment. What makes this case troublesome for the Court is that while the Board’s denial is correct, its thirty-six page resolution is a smorgasbord of reasons, which at times appear to be pretextual, rather than a balanced evaluation of the evidence. Despite the fact that some of the Board’s findings are not factually supportable and some of its conclusions are not legally sustainable, the question to be resolved is whether the *560 record as a whole supports the Board’s denial of the variances and site plan.

II. JURISDICTION, APPLICABLE LAW AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

A. Jurisdiction

While decisions of local zoning and planning officials are generally a matter of local concern, and absent constitutional considerations their decisions are not the subject matter of federal court review, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(B)(v), (“TCA”), gives this Court jurisdiction to adjudicate the claim that the Board’s denial violated the TCA. The Court has supplemental jurisdiction to adjudicate Plaintiffs action in lieu of prerogative writ, challenging the Board’s denial on state law grounds under. 28 U.S.C. § 1367.

B. Applicable Law

1. Telecommunications Act

The Telecommunications Act, 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7) provides:

(7) Preservation of local zoning authority

(A) General authority

Except as provided in this paragraph, nothing in this chapter shall limit or affect the authority of a State or local government or instrumentality thereof over decisions regarding the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities.

(B) Limitations

(i) The regulations of the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities by any State or local government or instrumentality thereof—

(I) shall not unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services; and

(II) shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services.

(ii) A State or local government or instrumentality thereof shall act on any request for authorization to place, construct, or modify personal wireless service facilities within a reasonable period of time after the request is duly filed with such government or instrumentality, taking into account the nature and scope of such request.

(iii) Any decision by a State or local government or instrumentality thereof to deny a request to place, construct, or modify personal wireless service facilities shall be in writing and supported by substantial evidence contained in a written record.

(iv) No State or local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Commission’s regulations concerning such emissions.

(v) Any person adversely affected by any final action or failure to act by a State or local government or any instrumentality thereof that is inconsistent with this subparagraph may, within 30 days after such action or failure to act, commence an action in any court of competent jurisdiction. The court shall hear and decide such action on an expedited basis. Any person adversely affected by an act or failure to act by a State or local government or any instrumentality thereof that is inconsistent with clause (iv) may petition the Commission for relief.

In applying the TCA to a zoning board’s denial of a use variance, the Third Circuit has made it clear that the TCA is violated when either a general policy or an individual decision prohibits, or has the effect of prohibiting personal wireless services. Cellular Telephone Co. v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment of the Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus, 197 F.3d 64, 70 (3d Cir.1999). *561 Moreover, a decision has the effect of prohibiting wireless communication services if it results in “ ‘significant gaps’ in the availability of wireless services.” Ibid. It is up to the district court to determine what constitutes a significant gap in service and whether the gap can be closed by less intrusive means. Ibid.

2. New Jersey Land Use Regulation

The regulation of the use of land in New Jersey is a combination (often bewildering) of state statutes, municipal ordinances, and of course, judicial decisions. The starting point here is N.J.S.A.

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Bluebook (online)
90 F. Supp. 2d 557, 90 F. Supp. 557, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4427, 2000 WL 353386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cellular-telephone-co-v-zoning-board-of-adjustment-of-the-borough-of-njd-2000.