Sonneland tower has been removed

A Spokane communications company has dismantled its illegal antenna on a mountaintop south of Post Falls but isn’t giving up the fight.

Courtesy Communications owner John Sonneland filed an appeal in First District Court June 23, arguing the county wrongly denied him the permit needed to make the antenna legal and that there’s no reason to remove the tower.

The company provides pager and cell phone service throughout North Idaho and Eastern Washington.

But Wednesday, a judge dismissed the case at Kootenai County’s request because Sonneland failed to pay transcript fees when he filed the appeal.

Sonneland’s attorney is asking for the judge to reconsider, saying Sonneland overlooked the requirement and is willing to pay the fees. The judge will consider the proposal at a July 29 hearing.

Before filing the appeal, Sonneland hired a contractor to remove the tower from Blossom Mountain after a judge ruled it violates state and county laws. The order followed the Kootenai County Commission’s denial of Sonneland’s request for a conditional use permit to make the existing antenna and other equipment on Blossom Mountain legal.

“I thought their decision wasn’t based on the facts of the case,” Sonneland said Friday about the commission. “It’s been a real rough go of it.”

He added that the whole fight has turned into a “character assassination” against him.

Sonneland, a Spokane physician and former Republican congressional candidate, said he wants the county planning department to tell him what use remains for his one-acre lot on top of Blossom Mountain now that he can’t operate the tower.

“It’s not a farm, it’s not a vacation spot,” Sonneland said. “It becomes a useless acre.”

The county has battled with Sonneland for years over the tower, and officials claim he has violated almost every zoning law that applies to rural areas. Sonneland erected the tower in 1984.

Sonneland argued that he never knew there was a problem with the tower until 2001. He said the delay in resolving the situation was because the commission wouldn’t communicate with him.

In the appeal, Sonneland alleges that the county “irrationally” treats other tower owners on Blossom Mountain differently than they do him and that it has imposed “unreasonable and arbitrary” requirements. He also alleged that the county has approved a conditional use permit for a nearly identical tower that was near his antenna.

Deputy County Attorney John Cafferty said Sonneland has refused to comply with county laws.

“The county gave him the opportunity to present his case, but he still has to follow the rules, and he’s not willing to do that,” Cafferty said.

After the county denied Sonneland’s request for a permit and the judge ordered the tower’s removal, Sonneland proposed giving $3,500 to charity instead of spending it on dismantling the antenna.

Sonneland estimated that’s how much the tower removal would cost and that he preferred to give the cash to a charity of the County Commission’s choice.

The commissioners said that the county can’t barter and refused the deal.