Antenna Case Against Village Returns to Circuit Court

Residents upset over cell phone antennas on the Glen Ellyn water tower want a DuPage County judge to hit the village with an injunction requiring officials to comply with their own ordinance.

Last year, the 2nd Appellate District kept alive portions of a 2008 lawsuit brought by 14 residents against Glen Ellyn claiming a variety of problems with the village's approval of new antennas on the tower. The case's surviving parts—twice dismissed in DuPage County before the appellate court stepped in—involved illegal antenna height and other violations of Village Ordinance 5606.

Seeking enforcement of the ordinance, the residents filed an injunction request requiring compliance with Ordinance 5606.

Attorney Charles Chejfec, who represents the residents, could not immediately be reached for comment this week. Previously, he stated the village has acknowledged there are antenna that exceed the ordinance's limit. In an earlier interview, Stewart Diamond, an attorney for Glen Ellyn, suggested the case could be resolved by amending the ordinance. Diamond declined to comment on the case via email.

The village has until later this month to respond to the injunction request, with March 14 set as the next scheduled hearing date.

Residents originally sued the village and T-Mobile in 2008, alleging the addition of new antennas to the water tower violated zoning ordinances, would cause diminished property values and lead to a potential health hazard.

Judge Bonnie Wheaton struck down the initial six-count lawsuit in April 2009, but allowed the group to file amended allegations. They did so a month later.

In the revised lawsuit, the residents offered a similar argument that the village broke its own zoning rules when it allowed T-Mobile to add nine antennae on top of the tower in 2007.

At the time, Village and T-Mobile attorneys argued the residents had essentially recycled their first complaint, and Wheaton appeared to agree by dismissing all six counts again.

The appellate court sided with Wheaton on half of her rulings, but found the residents had enough substance on three counts for the case to be returned to the circuit court.