Omnipoint Communications v. Newtown Township, 99-1453

• Decision Date: 13 July 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-1458,Nos. 99-1453,99-1455 and 99-1458,No. 99-1453,No. 99-1455,99-1453,99-1455,99-1458,s. 99-1453
• Citation: 219 F.3d 240
• Parties: (3rd Cir. 2000) OMNIPOINT COMMUNICATIONS ENTERPRISES, L.P. v. NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP; ZONING HEARING BOARD OF NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, Appellants in, OMNIPOINT COMMUNICATIONS ENTERPRISES, L.P., Appellant in, v. NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP; ZONING HEARING BOARD OF NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, OMNIPOINT COMMUNICATIONS ENTERPRISES, L.P. v. NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP; ZONING HEARING BOARD OF NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, Appellants in
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 240

219 F.3d 240 (3rd Cir. 2000)

OMNIPOINT COMMUNICATIONS ENTERPRISES, L.P. v. NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP; ZONING HEARING BOARD OF NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, Appellants in No. 99-1453, OMNIPOINT COMMUNICATIONS ENTERPRISES, L.P., Appellant in No. 99-1455, v. NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP; ZONING HEARING BOARD OF NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, OMNIPOINT COMMUNICATIONS ENTERPRISES, L.P. v. NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP; ZONING HEARING BOARD OF NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, Appellants in No. 99-1458

Nos. 99-1453, 99-1455 and 99-1458

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

Argued March 20, 2000

Filed July 13, 2000

Bruce A. Irvine, Esquire, David C. Corujo, Esquire (Argued), Fronefield & deFuria, Media, PA, Paola T. Kaczynski, Esquire (Argued), Holstein & Associates, Media, PA, Counsel for Appellants/Cross Appellees.

Rudolph Garcia, Esquire (Argued), Joseph R. Loverdi, Esquire, Stephen M. Donweber, Esquire, Saul, Ewing, Remick & Saul, Philadelphia, PA, Counsel for Appellee/Cross Appellant.

Before: MANSMANN, GREENBERG and ALARCON,^* Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

MANSMANN, Circuit Judge.

Newtown Township appeals the District Court's order directing it to allow Omnipoint to install antennas for its Personal Communications System at a designated site within Newtown. Newtown claims that the District Court erred in concluding that its zoning ordinance has the impermissible effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services, in violation of the Telecommunications Act. Further, Newtown claims that the District Court erred in finding that the Zoning Hearing Board's findings and conclusions relating to whether there was a violation of the Telecommunications Act were not supported by substantial evidence. Omnipoint defends the District Court's conclusion and cross-appeals the District Court's conclusion that the enforcement procedures of the Telecommunications Act foreclose a civil rights remedy under 42 U.S.C. 1983.

With respect to Newtown's prohibition of the provision of wireless services, the determination must be made, first, about whether there is, in fact, a "significant gap" whereby Newtown is not adequately provided with wireless service, and second, if there is a gap, whether according to Omnipoint's plan, the least intrusive means would be used to bridge it. We conclude that the record before the District Court was insufficient to determine whether or not there is a "significant gap" in wireless services and thus whether or not Newtown's zoning ordinances violated the Telecommunications Act by effectively prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services. We need not, and do not, reach the question of whether the least intrusive means were proposed by Omnipoint to bridge any gap, nor do we reach the section 1983 issue. We will vacate and remand to the District Court with instructions that it remand this case to the Zoning Hearing Board to reconsider the proposed facility in compliance with this opinion, as well as our opinions in APT Pittsburgh Ltd. Part. v. Penn Tp. Butler County of Pennsylvania, 196 F.3d 469 (3rd Cir. 1999) and Cellular Telephone Co. v. Zoning Bd. of Adj. of Ho-Ho-Kus, 197 F.3d 64 (3rd Cir. 1999).

I.

Omnipoint provides personal communications services, essentially portable telephone service, over a network of wireless telecommunications facilities. To provide continuous service to its customers, there must be a series of overlapping cells in a grid pattern. Currently, Omnipoint has a gap in its coverage in Newtown Township and surrounding areas. To fill this gap, Omnipoint entered into a lease allowing it to install antennas on the Newtown Towers apartment building's rooftop. Omnipoint then applied for a building permit to install the antennas, which Newtown's Zoning Officer denied, on the ground that, under Newtown's Zoning Ordinance, the proposed antennas are not a permitted use or accessory use in the Apartment-Office District, the district in which Newtown Towers is located.

Omnipoint appealed the decision to the Zoning Hearing Board of Newtown, based upon both the Zoning Officer's finding that the antennas were not a permitted or accessory use and an alleged violation of the Telecommunications Act, 47 U.S.C. 332(c)(7)(B). Following public hearings through the spring of 1998, the Zoning Hearing Board denied Omnipoint's appeal.

Omnipoint then filed an action in District Court against Newtown Township, alleging a violation of the Telecommunications Act, a violation of the Civil Rights Act, and a violation of state zoning law. The parties filed Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment.

The District Court granted Omnipoint's Motion for Summary Judgment and denied Newtown's Motion for Summary Judgment; the District Court, nevertheless, denied Omnipoint's claim for attorney's fees under the Civil Rights Act, and granted Newtown's Motion for Summary Judgment as to this claim only.

Our standard of review upon the grant of summary judgment is plenary. Horowitz v. Federal Kemper Life Assur., 57 F.3d 300 (3rd Cir. 1995) On review, an appellate court is required to apply the same test the District Court should have used initially. Id. Summary judgment is appropriate if the "pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is not any genuine issue as to a material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). One of the rule's principal purposes is to dispose of factually unsupported claims or defenses. Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 91 L. Ed. 2d 265, 106 S. Ct. 2548 (1986). In considering a motion for summary judgment, we examine all the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 257, 91 L. Ed. 2d 202, 106 S. Ct. 2505 (1986). Summary judgment must be granted if the party responding to the motion fails "to make a sufficient showing on an essential element of her case with respect to which she has the burden of proof." Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323. When the moving party does not bear the burden of proof, summary judgment is warranted by demonstration of an absence of facts to support the non-moving party's case. Id. at 325.

The Telecommunications Act was an "overhaul of the federal regulation of communications companies." Cellular Tel. v. Oyster Bay, 166 F.3d 490, 492-93 (2d Cir. 1999). It was designed:

to provide for a pro-competitive, de-regulatory national policy framework designed to accelerate rapidly private sector deployment of advanced technologies and services . . . by opening all telecommunications markets to competition. . . .

Id. at 493 (quoting H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 104-458, at 206 (1996)). As the District Court stated, the Act was intended to promote competition by limiting the ability of local authorities to regulate and control the expansion of telecommunications technologies. For example, under the Act, courts review telecommunication zoning denials more closely than standard zoning decisions. Oyster Bay, 166 F.3d at 493.

Two provisions of the Act are at issue in this case. The first provision at issue here provides:

The regulation of the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities by any State or local government or instrumentality thereof--

* * *

(II) shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services.

47 U.S.C. 332(c)(7)(B)(i)(II) (Supp.III). With respect to this provision of the Act, Omnipoint claims that the City's decision has the effect of prohibiting personal wireless services.

Omnipoint's second claim, that regarding "substantial evidence," arises under the following provision:

Any decision by a State or local government or instrumentality thereof to deny a request to place, construct, or modify personal wireless service facilities shall be in writing and supported by substantial evidence contained in a written record.

47 U.S.C. 332(c)(7)(B)(iii) (Supp. III 1997).

II.

On appeal, Newtown challenges the District Court's holding in Omnipoint's favor that the Newtown zoning ordinances had the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services in violation of the Telecommunications Act, because it left Omnipoint unable to fill its gap in service.¹ Omnipoint had challenged Newtown's Zoning Hearing Board's denial of permission to construct communications antennae as violating the Telecommunications Act, because under the zoning ordinances the antennae are not a permitted use anywhere within Newtown.

While the Telecommunications Act recognizes local governments' right to exercise their land use authority over personal wireless services, 47 U.S.C. 332(c)(7), it places both substantive and procedural limitations on this authority. Principally at issue here is the Telecommunications Act's provision that "the regulation of the placement, construction or modification of wireless service facilities by any State or local government or instrumentality thereof. . . shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of wireless services." 47 U.S.C. 332(c)(7)(B). The Telecommunications Act also includes the procedural safeguards that any decision adverse to a wireless provider be in writing and that the decision must be supported by "substantial evidence". 47 U.S.C. (c)(7)(B)(iii). Omnipoint alleges that the Zoning Board's decision in this case was not supported by "substantial evidence."

Omnipoint has presented evidence of a gap in coverage in its wireless services in Newtown and surrounding areas, including portions of the West Chester Pike and Route 252. Omnipoint argues that if the Zoning Board's decision leaves a "significant gap" in wireless services, section 332(c)(7)(B)(i)(II) has been violated. Newtown argues that a mere gap is not sufficient, and that rather, there must be a "significant gap" as to all wireless services and not within the service of a single wireless provider.

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