When Santa Cruz County’s planning commission voted to reject a 151-foot cellphone tower disguised like a pine tree in Bonny Doon earlier this year, the land-use panel might have “abused” its discretion powers, county staff said. 

Speaking to the county’s board of supervisors on Tuesday, representatives of CTI Towers, a North Carolina-based company that owns and operates wireless infrastructure throughout the country, took it a step further, arguing that the commission’s Feb. 12 rejection of the camouflaged tower represented a violation of the federal Telecommunications Act and was a “clear and legal error.” 

Despite its tree camouflage, the possibility of a 15-story cell tower moving into the view of redwoods and Douglas firs along Summit Drive has irked its Bonny Doon neighbors for more than three years, since CTI first submitted its application in February 2022. Yet, for AT&T, which would use the tower to boost its wireless service, and the broader rural community aching for better cellphone coverage, the tower represents a welcome improvement of a critical communications service. 

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Over the past decade, Christopher Neely has built a diverse journalism résumé, spanning from the East Coast to Texas and, most recently, California’s Central Coast.Chris reported from Capitol Hill...