Court says cities have the right to bar telecommunications towers

Earlier this month, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Palos Verdes Estates (CA), ruling that city officials could bar the construction of unsightly cellular towers. The city's victory was hailed by urban planners concerned about the proliferation of visual blight in the name of technological progress. Like Palos Verdes Estates, San Francisco, San Diego County, La Cañada Flintridge and other communities have fought the purveyors of cellular service in court on aesthetic grounds and, for the most part, have won. The recent legal disputes, planners say, could encourage telecommunications companies to develop more creative alternatives amenable to residents' concerns -- or spur more litigation. In its ruling the three-judge panel paid heed to the esoteric benefits of landscape unmarred by the accouterments of modern public utilities.