San Diego followed the law in denying permits...

San Diego followed the law in denying permits to American Tower, said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision handed down Thursday. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez had ruled the city violated the state’s permit law when it didn’t act on the conditional-use permit (CUP) applications within 60 days, but otherwise had acted correctly. Nonetheless, because of the violation, Benitez granted American Tower summary judgment. There was no violation of the Telecom Act or state law, said the 9th Circuit decision written by Judge Jay Bybee, which reversed the lower court’s finding in favor of the tower company. The appeals court otherwise upheld the lower court. “The City’s decision to deny the permit applications was supported by substantial evidence, and the City did not misapply its Land Development Code,” the court held (http://1.usa.gov/1qdhOl5). “The permit denial did not constitute unreasonable discrimination among functionally equivalent service providers because the plaintiff and the City were not functionally equivalent providers."