Husch Blackwell’s land use litigation team achieved a victory on behalf of Tillman Infrastructure in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals’ decision affirmed a permit previously granted to Tillman Infrastructure to construct a new communications tower to house necessary wireless communications infrastructure. Persuaded by Tillman’s arguments, the Court found that restrictive local ordinances were preempted by Wisconsin’s Mobile Tower Siting Act, which was enacted in 2013 to promote the orderly deployment of communications infrastructure.
Tillman Infrastructure, in cooperation with AT&T, applied for a permit with the Columbia County (Wisconsin) Planning and Zoning Board to build a new tower to house communications equipment owned and operated by AT&T, which wanted to relocate its equipment to save on tower leasing costs.
After the agency issued a permit to Tillman, a competing tower company (SBA Structures) and another entity challenged the agency’s decision, first before the county board of adjustment and then in court. Among other things, the challengers asserted restrictive local ordinances that prohibited new towers from being built within a half-mile of existing towers, regardless of topography, technical issues, network needs, or economic considerations.
In a decision that has been recommended for publication, the Court of Appeals agreed with Tillman’s position and dismissed the challengers’ arguments. More specifically, the Court held that the State’s Cellular Site Siting Law, § 66.0404, preempts the local ordinance’s separation requirements. The decision sets a binding precedent across the state and provides guidance for resolving conflicts between local ordinances and state law. Husch Blackwell hopes that the decision will benefit the communications industry by ensuring consistent statewide regulation of communication tower siting and construction, streamlining procedures, reducing conflicts caused by various local ordinances, removing local barriers to tower siting, simplifying compliance, and reducing costs.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision,” said Rod Carter, a partner at Husch Blackwell, which represented Tillman Infrastructure. “This case will set binding precedent and provide guidance on local ordinances that conflict with state law.”
In addition to Carter, the Husch Blackwell team also included Jake Remington and Joseph Diedrich. Carter and Remington initially led Tillman’s efforts to obtain the permit, while Diedrich led the litigation effort and secured a favorable outcome on appeal.
