A judge has rejected a landowner’s challenge to a telecommunications tower built earlier this year between Powell and Cody. The 150-foot TCT tower offers broadband internet access to dozens of homes in the Heart Mountain area. Until the tower was put up in March, the area was effectively a dead spot, with universal agreement that better internet service was needed.

However, James Jolovich raised concerns that the location of the tower — about a half-mile from his property along U.S. Highway 14-A — would obscure his view of Heart Mountain and threaten his health. Over the objections of Jolovich and his siblings, Park County commissioners approved a permit for the project on a 3-1 vote late last year; he then filed an appeal in the Fifth Judicial District Court.

Jolovich contended that the county government should have delayed a decision so officials could more thoroughly review the project. He also said the county should have required TCT to shorten the tower or to install it in a different location.

Last month, close to a year after the appeal was filed, presiding District Court Judge William Edelman of Buffalo affirmed the commission’s decision.

Edelman said that, while commissioners were required to give Jolovich a chance to provide input, they were “under no obligation to follow the recommendations of Petitioner [Jolovich] or further investigate the matter if they believed they had a full understanding of the [George Farms] Tower and believed it was in compliance with the regulations.”

A significant chunk of the 25-page decision concerned the height of the tower, built on land owned by George Farms.

Through his attorneys, Jolovich argued that the tower could have and should have been limited to 35 feet. Attorneys Scott and Laurence Stinson of Cody highlighted county regulations that say telecommunications towers and other major utilities “shall not be over-sized so as to induce or facilitate additional development” within agricultural overlay districts.

TCT CEO Richard Wardell told county officials that the tower was sited and designed to provide the best service, and could eventually be used by other companies to provide cellular service; Jolovich’s attorneys suggested that ran afoul of the county’s prohibition of outsized facilities in ag areas. Judge Edelman, however, agreed with Deputy Park County Attorney Jack Hatfield’s argument that the rules don’t necessarily forbid facilities that have the potential for growth.

The judge added that “it is highly unlikely that constructing a broadband tower in the area that also has the capacity to provide cell phone services will facilitate or induce a substantial amount of development in a way that would disrupt agricultural operations.” 

Under past case law, courts defer to the decisions of governing bodies on appeal, unless they’ve acted out of step with their rules or the law or have acted arbitrarily or capriciously. In this case, Edelman said the commissioners’ interpretation of their own rules was reasonable and said the board “was in the best position to make that decision.”

Before approving the special use permit for the George Farms tower in December 2020, commissioners discussed the possibility of encouraging TCT to pick a different location, but decided against it.

“I’m not going to get in their business and tell them, ‘We’ve got a better location for you,’” Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said at the time, adding, “No matter where you have it, you’re most likely going to have somebody not like it.”

Commissioner Lee Livingston had voted against the permit.

It was one of six towers that TCT sought to build in Park County with federal CARES Act funding distributed through the state’s ConnectWyoming program. The others did not face public opposition.