Supreme Court Sides With T-Mobile on Tower Citing

The Supreme Court ruled in T-Mobile v. City of Roswell that the Telecommunications Act requires local governments to provide timely reasons for denying a tower-citing request, and that simply sending a letter and providing a transcript of the hearing 26 days later did not cut it.

T-Mobile had sued the city of Roswell (GA), arguing that the city council denial was not supported by substantial evidence in a written decision stating the reasons. A district court agreed, but the Eleventh Circuit US court of Appeals concluded that the denial letter and transcript were sufficient. T-Mobile took it to the Supreme Court, which reversed and remanded the Eleventh Circuit, saying localities need to provide their reasoning essentially contemporaneously and stated clearly enough for judicial review.