ABQjournal: Ruling on Tower Upsets Neighbors By Martin Salazar, Journal Staff Writer

Arroyo Seco residents who waged a legal battle to bring down a 198-foot telecommunications tower near their homes expressed dismay at a state Supreme Court ruling last week that allows the tower to remain. …

The variance was needed because Skyhigh was trying to erect a 198-foot tower when the county code limited the height of structures to 24 feet. The commission voted 2-to-1 in favor of granting the variance.

Several Arroyo Seco residents then took the county to court, and a district judge ruled in 2001 that the commission had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in granting a height variance for the tower.

Skyhigh filed an appeal with the state Court of Appeals, which refused to hear the case. Skyhigh then asked the Supreme Court to take up the matter.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court states that Santa Fe County acted according to its own rules when it approved the variance for the tower. The court also emphasized that Santa Fe County code allows telecommunications facilities anywhere in the county.