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Thursday, September 20, 2007
Ind. Decisions - "Ruling against cell tower upheld"
Bryan Corbin writes today in the Evansville Courier & Press about the Supreme Court's decision Tuesday in St. Charles Tower, Inc. v. Board of Zoning Appeals of Evansville-Vanderburgh County (see ILB summary here):
The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld the ruling of the Board of Zoning Appeals of Evansville-Vanderburgh County, which blocked St. Charles Tower Inc. from building a 185-foot cell phone tower at 5909 Felstead Road.The company's application to build the cell tower was denied by the zoning board in May 2005. The company appealed the ruling to Vanderburgh Circuit Court Judge Carl Heldt and lost, then it appealed again up to the Indiana Court of Appeals and won. The zoning board in turn appealed that ruling to the Indiana Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, the state's highest court sided with the zoning board and with Heldt in saying that Missouri-based St. Charles Tower Inc. did not qualify for a special permit to build its cell tower at the Felstead Road location. In a nine-page decision overturning the appeals court, the supreme court unanimously affirmed the zoning board's interpretation of a county zoning ordinance.
That ordinance requires that cell phone towers be located a distance of two feet for each foot of the tower's height, or 300 feet, whichever is greater, from any residence. Since St. Charles Tower planned to construct a 185-foot tower within 370 feet of three residences, one of which was within 168 feet of the tower site, then the zoning board properly rejected the company's application, the supreme court decision said.
No building permit ever was issued and the tower never was constructed, said Brad Mills, executive director of the Evansville Metropolitan Planning Organization. "Neighbors in the area were opposed to it and fearful that it might fall on their property," Mills said, recalling the testimony of remonstrators from the May 2005 zoning board hearing.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 20, 2007 04:16 PM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions