AT&T Sues to Allow Construction of 150-Foot Monopole in Kansas

The city of Liberal, Kansas, violated the Telecommunications Act when it denied AT&T’s application for permission to build a 150-foot-tall wireless communication monopole facility and related equipment to be located on a local golf course, alleged AT&T in a complaint Wednesday (docket 6:22-cv-01264) in U.S. District Court for Kansas in Wichita. AT&T seeks to install the facility to remedy “significant service deficiencies” in its personal wireless service coverage in the area, it said. AT&T “considered several potential locations” for the proposed facility, but each “proved infeasible or impermissible” based on the city’s ordinance interpretations and application denials, “including one site for which AT&T previously applied for a special use permit and was denied,” it said. AT&T’s proposal to place a monopole at the golf course “is the only feasible option for and least intrusive means of filling the significant gap in coverage in the area,” it said. The site has been used for commercial purposes for more than 100 years, and AT&T’s proposed use “would be consistent with that underlying use,” it said. The city’s denial “has effectively prohibited the provision of personal wireless services within the meaning” of the statute’s Section 332, it said. Municipality officials didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment.