Waukesha County cellphone tower lawsuit, homeowners' claims rejected
WAUKESHA, Wis. - A Waukesha County Circuit Court judge rejected the latest lawsuit from a group of Big Bend homeowners over the placement of a cellphone tower in neighboring Vernon.
According to court filings, the judge ruled the Vernon Village Board acted within its jurisdiction and power to approve a conditional use permit for the Diamond Communications structure in 2023. The judge further dismissed the homeowners' complaint and claims with prejudice.
The 165-foot cellphone tower went up in Vernon last year. A cluster of homes in Big Bend surrounded the Vernon property that the tower was placed on.
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Vernon signed off on the project in 2020. The Scenic Ridge of Big Bend homeowners association sued – and lost. The association appealed the decision and won in 2022, arguing Big Bend property values – and neighborhood aesthetics – should have been considered. Vernon again approved a permit with two new trustees on the board, and the association took them back to court.
Homeowners like Geri Gaglione told FOX6 last December that they built their Scenic Ridge homes in a way that blocked views of existing high tension electric towers cutting through the neighborhood.
Cellphone tower installed in Vernon, seen in Big Bend community
"There’s plenty of farm field across that the tower could have went on," Gaglione said. "How does this happen when we’re all residential property here?"
In a letter filed earlier in 2023, an attorney representing Diamond Communications said its new tower replaces cell services on power lines 300 yards away. Diamond Communications said the Wisconsin Electric power company wouldn’t renew existing Verizon and AT&T leases, leaving the company to either build a new tower or drop service.
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"Obviously, it’s awful, right? Who wants to look at that every morning?" resident Cheri Novak told FOX6 last year. "To put it in the middle of a community of 10 homes that have been here for 20 years just seems disrespectful to the community at large."
Diamond Communications told FOX6 in December that the new tower received all necessary zoning, regulatory approvals and building permits.