Roswell residents fight against controversial cell phone tower

It was a full house Monday night at the Roswell City Hall, where residents, donning red shirts, showed up to help nix a proposed controversial cell tower.

The issue is back before the City Council after a legal battle which started in 2007 and made its way to the Supreme Court.

In 2010, the Roswell city council turned down T-Mobile's application for a 108-foot tall tower in a back yard of a home in the Lake Charles community, in part, because of a lot community opposition.

But T-Mobile challenged the council's actions in court, claiming it didn't follow proper procedures, which sent the issue all the way to the Supreme Court. It was later sent back to lower court.

The lower court then has asked the city to show whether or not there is a gap in T-Mobile cell phone coverage in Roswell with the new technology available.

The issued prompted the phone company and city to bring in their experts with different opinions.

T-Mobile says there isn't enough coverage, but the city says there is.

“The 108-foot tower with the 100-foot rad center at the location requested is necessary to fill the gap, and the 100-foot tower suggested by the city at the fire station will not close the significance gap in coverage,” said Scott Taylor, counsel for T-Mobile.

Roswell Mayor Jere Wood said, “We have an expert who believes that technology has changed and believes the cell service is fine throughout Roswell.”