Spring Lake residents win rare right to join lawsuit over Verizon 5G towers
Last November, Verizon Wireless sued the town of Spring Lake. In the lawsuit, the carrier claimed local officials violated federal law by taking too much time to review (and, according to Verizon, unfairly reject) its proposal.
The carrier claims the town missed a legal deadline. Also, it alleges the town didn’t give strong enough reasons for rejecting its 5G project.
The legal deadline, otherwise known as a “shot clock” is a federal deadline that needs to be met by local governments when reviewing applications for wireless infrastructure. This includes 5G towers.
Meanwhile, the Spring Lake residents organized themselves under the group “Spring Lake Against 5G Towers”. They wanted to join the lawsuit because they believed the 5G towers would directly impact their homes, including their property value and the character of their historic neighborhood.
We think it is imperative that our community has a say in where 5G towers are placed, that our concerns are being taken seriously, and that any potential settlement addresses our concerns.
-Kelley Badishkanian, a founding member of Spring Lake Against 5G Towers
The group consists of seven people who live near the sites where the 5G towers would be built. They claim they would be uniquely affected by this construction. Unfortunately, the town and the residents seem not to fully agree on what alternatives they should consider, despite both sides opposing the 5G towers.
Meanwhile, Verizon opposed the residents joining the lawsuit, and it claimed their concerns were being represented by the town.
Nevertheless, the federal judge said they could officially join the lawsuit, as their concerns are closely related to the main case, and the lawsuit is still in its early stages. The judge also mentioned the residents joining wouldn’t unfairly affect the other parties.
