A federal court in Arkansas overturned a 2007 decision by the Ben...
A federal court in Arkansas overturned a 2007 decision by the Benton County Land Use Appeal Board that barred Callahan Tower Ventures from building a 195-foot cellphone tower on a parcel known as the Wehmeyer Tract. The U.S. District…
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Court in Fayetteville said the appeal board failed to justify its reversal of the county planning board decision to grant a construction permit for the tower. The court said the appeal board simply asserted that other less intrusive sites existed for the tower and that no substantial support existed to grant the permit, without backing up its findings. The court (Case 07-CV-5214) said the planning board based its favorable decision on a voluminous record concerning property values, deed restrictions, aesthetics, wireless coverage, alternative sites and collocation options, but the appeal board didn’t cite or specifically refute any of the record evidence. The parties that appealed the original planning board decision offered generalized objections based on appearance and property values. But the court said such objections aren’t enough to support denial of a tower application, particularly in the face of substantial evidence favoring the tower permit.