Walla Walla B&B Owners Seek to Intervene in City’s Cell Tower Fight vs. AT&T

Barbara and Everett Knudson seek to intervene on the side of Walla Walla, Washington, in the city’s cell tower dispute with AT&T, said their motion Tuesday (docket 4:23-cv-05162) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington in Richland. AT&T’s Dec. 1 complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief challenging Walla Walla’s denial of its application for a conditional use permit to build, operate and maintain a 65-foot “faux tree” cell tower and accessory equipment on church property on the city’s east side (see 2312040002). The Knudsons own and live on property abutting the site proposed for the new cell tower and they own and operate a bed and breakfast located less than 500 feet from the site, said their motion. The Knudsons participated in the “underlying” AT&T application proceeding before the city’s hearing examiner and have a “significant interest” in defending the denial decision reached by the hearing examiner, it said. Their attorney is “authorized to state” that the city stipulates to their intervention, but AT&T has said it will oppose their motion, it said. The Knudsons should be granted intervention as a matter of right under Rule 24(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or alternatively, permissive intervention under Rule 24(b), it said.