T-Mobile files complaint against city

In the latest chapter in an ongoing row about the installation of cell-phone towers near schools and parks, T-Mobile plans to sue Huntington Beach for breach of contract.

The mobile phone provider filed a federal complaint last week, but City Attorney Jennifer McGrath said the city has not yet been served.

The complaint claims the city reneged on a contract it had with T-Mobile to install two of the towers on city land. But city officials say the contract still stands.

“T-Mobile has a valid contract and permit to construct the cell towers,” McGrath said.

According to federal court records, the plaintiff in the case, which was filed May 27 in the California Central District Court’s Western Division Los Angeles Office, is Omnipoint Communications, a subsidiary of T-Mobile.

T-Mobile was underway with installation of a tower near Harbour View Elementary School this spring when the school and local parents learned of the plans and launched a vociferous campaign to have its installation canceled over concerns for potential health effects.

The school and the Ocean View School District said they were never notified of the plan to install the tower near the school’s playground.

The City Council voted in late April to move the tower to another site, as well as to notify residents if a cell tower will be built within 500 feet of a school.

Following the Harbour View opposition, neighbors near Bolsa View Park, the second planned cell tower site, also voiced their objections.

The City Council told the city to try to negotiate a $50,000 reimbursement of costs with T-Mobile, but T-Mobile did not accept the offer, McGrath said. The city then withdrew its offer.

Reporter CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at candice.baker@latimes.com.