TowerCo. Builds a telecommunication tower but receives backlash and gets sued by the Berlin Township Trustees.
In 2019 Verizon found a gap in their communication and data coverage in Delaware County, specifically in Berlin Township. The Olentangy Local School District Board Committee and TowerCo. Came to the agreement that they would put the cell tower on the property of Berlin Middle.
All the agreements were finalized and production started. As soon as the cell tower could be seen from the road many people got fired up about it. While the OLSD Board Committee agreed to have the cell tower on their property the Trustees did not like that. Even though it should be OLSD’s right to say what happens on their property, if neighborhoods around objects then the production can stop.
The trustees did not like that there was another cell tower being built and objected to the location due to the interest of the health, safety, and welfare of children, teachers, and the general public in Berlin Township, said The Board Of Trustees , Berlin Township in a letter to residents.
In 2021, after the Trustees objected, along with some neighbors, TowerCo. reached out asking if they can continue to proceed with work on the cell tower, and explained that their concerns were not to be worried about. With no response the first time TowerCo. reached out again to the Trustees, again no reply.
Rather than continuing to follow the state statute and rather than continuing with the local
Township process in keeping with standard practices, TowerCo. asserted that because they are
building on school district owned land, they are immune from having to follow state or local
zoning, Said the Berlin Township Trustees.
As a result, it is the Township’s contention that TowerCo. bypassed Township approval and obtained a building permit from the Delaware County Department of Building Safety. When it was brought to the attention of the County Building Department that the Township had objected and did not approve of the construction, the Building Safety Department placed the permit on hold and caused the construction to be halted. This action was not requested by the Township, said the Berlin Township Trustees.
TowerCo, however, took a different approach: it asserted that, pursuant to the state immunity doctrine set forth in Brownfield v. State overruled in part on other grounds by Racing Guild of Ohio, Loc. 304, it was not required to comply with local zoning regulations, including the conditional use permit application process, for the Berlin Station tower, said Justia Us Law.
“It was not required to comply with local zoning regulations,” said Chief U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley, of the Southern District of Ohio’s Eastern Division.
In December 2021, when the state still gave the approval to continue working on the cell tower after the Trustees mentioned the zoning regulations and laws the township issued letters back to the state that said what they asked to be done was misinterpreted related to the location and the zoning area.
When the state Building Department got the letter they called for a stop of production on the cell tower in may of 2022, when they stated there was some ‘non-compliance’ with the local zoning regulations. By June of 2022 the halt was lifted and production was continued.
After that TowerCo. Proceed to build the cell tower. Costing over $375,000. By April of 2022 it was almost finished, it just had a few minor things missing when the Berlin Trustees sued TowerCo.
Berlin Township filed suit against TowerCo, and the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas issued a temporary restraining order to prevent completion, said the Delaware Gazette.
While in court four things were factored, likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable injury, balance of the equities, and public interest. The court concluded that the production of the cell tower be terminated until further notice. As of December 1, 2023 the cell tower still sits there but goes unused.
