DATE: Saturday, May 3, 1997                 TAG: 9705030297

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONI GUAGENTI, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   76 lines

COMPANIES, CHURCH SUING BEACH FOR RIGHT TO BUILD TOWERS RESIDENTS AND THE COUNCIL DON'T WANT 135-FOOT STRUCTURES ON LITTLE NECK ROAD.

Two telecommunications companies and a church are suing the city for the right to build cellular phone towers on the Little Neck Peninsula over residents' objections.

In one of the first challenges under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, AT&T Wireless Services, PrimeCo Personal Communications and Lynnhaven United Methodist Church filed suit last week in U.S. District Court in Norfolk against the Virginia Beach City Council.

The council voted unanimously in March to deny an application for two 135-foot towers at the Methodist church on Little Neck Road because of residents' opposition. Residents said they're not against progress but they oppose having two poles towering over their tranquil neighborhood cradled by the Lynnhaven River and they oppose a business use in a strictly residential area.

The companies are saying their rights to do business under the act outweigh citizens' concerns about aesthetics.

The act was adopted last year by the federal government to ensure the expansion of digital wireless services throughout the country.

The Federal Communications Commission in the past two years, for instance, has auctioned licenses for millions of dollars to providers of cellular-like services to do business in markets such as Hampton Roads.

AT&T and PrimeCo are two of those providers. Both are trying to provide digital service to customers in Hampton Roads. PrimeCo currently has digital service in the area, and AT&T will soon launch its business here.

AT&T and PrimeCo had planned to share the proposed church towers with GTE and 360 Communications, which were trying to improve their existing cellular service in Little Neck. GTE and 360 say the peninsula is a trouble spot, where calls are frequently cut off or have a lot of static. GTE and 360 are not parties in the lawsuit.

Digital and cellular services operate on two different frequencies on the radio spectrum. Digital signals can carry more information, or more phone calls, than cellular service, but, with digital, more towers are needed because the signals aren't carried as far.

AT&T and PrimeCo say in the lawsuit that the city is discriminating against them as digital providers over companies like GTE and 360.

The suit also says the local government cannot deny the construction of wireless facilities if that denial prohibits digital service to an area, such as Little Neck.

The city disputes the charges.

``The denial of one application on one site doesn't mean you are discriminating against anyone,'' said William M. Macali, deputy city attorney.

Little Neck residents who fought the original application at the church said this week that they're not surprised by the lawsuit.

``It was expected they were going to do something else'' after City Council defeated the project, said John Haver, vice president of the Middle Plantation Civic League, a group of about 425 homeowners opposed to the towers.

Parties in the lawsuit met Thursday to try to discuss alternative sites on the peninsula where towers could be constructed.

But, said City Manager James K. Spore, it doesn't appear that there are other alternatives.

The next step would be to go through the courts, Spore said, ``if we can't find any other physical alternatives that work.''

City Councilman William W. Harrison Jr., who represents Little Neck in the Lynnhaven Borough, said the council is not obligated to approve every application.

``Our vote was related to that one application. It was not related to the entire Little Neck Peninsula,'' said Harrison. ``I stand by that decision.''

Eddie Bourdon, attorney for Lynnhaven United Methodist Church, called the church's involvement in the lawsuit ``procedural'' because it is the proposed host to the towers. The church would have received $60,000 per year to lease the site for the towers.

The lawsuit states that the church site was selected after the investigation of seven alternatives. Lawyers have referred to the Methodist church as the best place for the towers. AT&T and PrimeCo also say they tried to minimize the visual impact on the neighborhoods by proposing the construction of narrow monopole towers.

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