Video: Anacortes city leaders worried about cell phone tower

Larger screen

ANACORTES, Wash. - The city of Anacortes is fighting to keep a cell phone tower from going up in the middle of a neighborhood.

A federal judge just ruled the city must issue a building permit to T-Mobile, despite the city's objection.

That has neighbors angry and Anacortes City Hall worried.

"Anytime anybody can make money on it, they're going to do it," said Dorothy Lane, who lives across the street from where T-Mobile plans to erect the tower. "They don't care what your opinion is."

The property belongs to the Anacortes United Methodist Church, which sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

When the city denied T-Mobile a permit for the site, the company sued in federal court and won.

The judge said city rules governing projects like this are too burdensome for companies and ordered the city to issue a permit.

Helen Huus, whose home would literally be in the tower's shadow, says the ruling just doesn't make sense.

"I thought this was a residential neighborhood," she said. "I didn't like the idea of a commercial tower put into it."

The city says the ruling sets a dangerous precedent and Thursday night passed an emergency ordinance creating new rules for cell towers.

They also will ask the federal judge for a stay of his decision while they consider an appeal.

T-Mobile didn't respond to a request for comment.