Sprint PCS Assets, L.L.C. v. City of La Cañada Flintridge

This case requires us to determine whether a city can, consistent with California and federal law, deny a telecommunications company a permit to construct and to install a wireless antenna based on aesthetic considerations.

I

Sprint PCS is a wireless telecommunications company seeking to install two wireless telecommunications facilities in the city of La Cañada Flintridge (“the City”). The City denied Sprint’s applications to install these wireless facilities, finding that they would obstruct the rights-of-way and would have a deleterious aesthetic impact on the neighborhood. The City rejected Sprint’s applications pursuant to its local wireless ordinance, which authorized the City to deny permit applications, inter alia, on aesthetic grounds. After the City denied two of Sprint’s five applications, Sprint brought two actions against the City — one for each permit application denied — alleging violations of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56(codified as amended in scattered sections of 15, 18, & 47 U.S.C.) (“Telecom Act”), and the California Public Utilities Code, Cal. Pub. Util. Code §§ 7901 , 7901.1 (“Utilities Code”). The district…