The village of Schaumburg, Ill., and the city of Half Moon Bay, Calif., allege the U.S. Postal Service is overstepping its legal bounds for building tower sites on post office property, disregarding local zoning authorities in favor of making money from the private sector.
UniSite Inc. of Richardson, Texas, has an exclusive partnership with the national postmaster to build sites for wireless service providers at about 35,000 post office locations across the country.
Siting disputes are not new. But siting for constructing structures on post office property is unique. In this, as in many disputes, interpretation of the law is in question.
Despite laws exempting the postal service from local zoning guidelines, UniSite maintains it and the post office are committed to working with communities on siting procedures and is guided by a shared site concept that in the end benefits communities in terms of aesthetics and environmental concerns, and provides cost savings and speed to market benefits for operators.
The village of Schaumburg recently filed a lawsuit against UniSite and the U.S. Postal Service to prevent a tower from being erected.
Tom Dabareiner, acting director of planning for Schaumburg, said the post office is not required to follow local zoning laws when constructing on its property so long as any structure built is used solely for the post office and its employees. Because the tower would be used by private companies that would lease use from the post office for a profit, Schaumburg does have jurisdiction, maintains Dabareiner.
UniSite began constructing a tower that UniSite head Mark Fowler maintains the company had approval to do. Dabareiner disagrees.
The town ultimately objected to this particular tower because it is located in a residential area. The tower also is perceived as unsightly. Also, the building limit is typically 35 feet high and coverage already exists for the area, said Dabareiner.
All “that was agreed to is that if in fact legally we had no say over (the tower construction), then they could proceed,” said Dabareiner of the village’s meeting with UniSite and the post office in June. “That was the U.S. Post Office and UniSite’s position. We said we wanted to research it, then we never heard from them again and then the tower went up over a weekend. We agreed simply that we would look into it,” explained Dabareiner.
Dabareiner said that UniSite and the Post Office told the city it did not need its approval to go forward with building.
“The city said collocation is a great idea,” countered Fowler. He said Schaumburg officials suggested UniSite “could consider doing the same with city property. We thought we had approval … It’s disappointing because it’s very unfair to think you have gained an approval and have people change their minds while in construction.”
UniSite’s Fowler said Schaumburg residents have complained about lack of wireless coverage.
Fowler said that his company received a letter from Schaumburg officials that granted the company approval to start construction on the tower.
“Under the law, federal post office sites are exempt from local zoning requirements,” said Fowler. “In a town where they do not have suitable wireless service, the law is that they have to accommodate sites,” he continued.
Ultimately, said Fowler, UniSite is “committed to working with local zoning authorities and complying with their zoning requirements … We are not going to put a site into any community where they say `no.’ I think [zoning disputes are] starting to be a big crisis in the industry,” he added. “It behooves all of us to work collaboratively.
“With 35,000 sites under our exclusive management, we can be part of that (collocation) solution,” said Fowler.
“The biggest attraction of our national inventory is the ability of PCS operators to be able to design in a given [basic trading area] around our inventory because there is so much of it,” said Fowler.
“We’d like to have a good working relationship with UniSite, (but) they haven’t cooperated in terms of providing any level of detail about their project. That’s required of anybody,” said Chris Gustin, planning and building director for Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Gustin said UniSite has not provided any “formal application or plans and specifications of where they plan to build and what precisely.” He said UniSite has not produced an environmental assessment of their proposed tower site.
A party must indicate precise location for a building site and submit specifications of what they want to build, including drawings. Developers are required by the National Environmental Policy Act to assess “what potential environmental impacts will occur as a result of their project,” added Gustin.
The proposed project is submitted to an architectural review committee. Once approved, the project is examined by the planning commission, then handed to the city council. The city sends out a notice inviting public comment of the proposal.
“They say they are on government property and not subject to local rules.”
and that “`we don’t need your permission.”‘ UniSite “hasn’t treated us with anything less than disdain,” said Gustin.
Gustin charged the post office staff in Half Moon Bay does not support UniSite’s proposed tower.
The location of the Half Moon Bay post office is a Riparian habitat, a wetland considered environmentally sensitive, said Gustin. The post office’s developed lot is not suitable to build either, because a tower would obstruct mail trucks from conducting their business, he added. In addition, an easement was granted to city for flood control and open space purposes in the area targeted by UniSite, said Gustin. “That creek area is protected by city, state and federal law.”
While “no one in Half Moon Bay has said no to these people,” said Gustin, the company has not submitted any specifications for the city’s review.
“I keep asking questions, (but) I don’t get any answers. `It’s on hold.’ They say this is what we are going to do, like it or not.”
While Gustin said the project may be on hold, he recently received a phone call from the town’s electric authority and was asked who it was that had requested a 1600 AMP panel for electricity in the back of the post office.
Gustin said a UniSite representative told him, “We’re not in the habit of seeking approvals. We don’t want to set a precedent of asking permission.”
Fowler said UniSite is working with the city of Half Moon Bay, specifically City Manager Bill Zaner.
“We are in a very collaborative effort.”
Fowler said that in Half Moon Bay, like Schaumburg, coverage problems exist.
“In that city right now if you call 911, the call doesn’t always go through.”
He said the company aims to “come up with a suitable collocation site where we can reduce the total number of sites that are required by putting multiple operators on the same UniSite site.
“Zaner and I have committed to explore this together,” added Fowler.
Dennis Wamsley, the national postmaster was not available for comment.
