Iberia Parish Council approves cell tower despite opposition from residents

A business dispute that led to the request of a new cell tower in an Iberia Parish neighborhood generated controversy at Wednesday’s Parish Council meeting after both sides of the issue were presented.

Representatives from AT&T, SBA Communications and local residents were present during Wednesday’s meeting and gave their case regarding the approval of a cell tower in the East Old Spanish Trail area.

Longtime residents of the area like Linda Freeman spoke to the council in opposition to the proposal, saying that the cell tower could lower the value of her home and was also possibly unhealthy.

“I put my home on this property because of the beautiful characteristics that define this area,” Freeman said. “This huge piece of metal that looms over our homes will change that.”

Freeman also pointed out that there were eight towers already up within an eight mile radius of the area, and six towers within 2.5 miles of the proposed tower site.

Chip Lyons, a lawyer representing Harmoni Towers, said that AT&T uses SBA Communications towers in the rest of the area, but a dispute between the two companies has led to issues about AT&T being able to upgrade its equipment on SBA towers.

“The bottom line is that every time AT&T wants to put new equipment they have to pay SBA more money to do it,” Lyons said. “That’s the issue between SBA and AT&T. This tower put in place by Harmoni, would allow quicker upgrades.”

However, Wendell Clark, another lawyer representing SBA Communications, said that AT&T has not asked SBA to allow for equipment upgrades in the area since 2013.

Clark said a cell tower exists half a mile from the proposed tower site that AT&T already uses, and is located in a cane field, which would avoid the residential issue.

“They claim they want to add better technology for the parish, everything that they propose to do on this tower can be done on the tower that exists in a cane field away from the residential area,” Clark said.

Councilman Natalie Broussard said the approval of the tower didn’t make sense because there was already a usable tower in existence.

“We should not put our residents in the middle of a contract dispute between two businesses,” Broussard said. “It does not make sense to approve a new tower because of a contract dispute.”

The council ultimately approved the permit request by a vote of 9-4. Council members Brian Napier, Natalie Broussard, Warren Gachassin and Marty Trahan voted against the resolution.