PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Supreme Judicial Court has affirmed a lower court's order to dismiss a lawsuit over the cell tower on South Street. 

 

The court's opinion, released Thursday, found that the city had no authority to pre-empt federal legislation, specifically the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.

 

The finding comes four years after the Board of Health issued — and then rescinded — an order for Verizon to cease the tower's operations. 

 

Six residents in the Shacktown neighborhood have been fighting Verizon over the construction of the tower and the purported health issues they've suffered from the radio frequencies emanating from it. They first sought a ruling against the Zoning Board of Appeals over the notification process, which was dismissed. 

 

They sought relief through the Board of Health, which discussed the problem for nearly a year before issuing a cease and desist to Verizon in 2022 if it did not respond to a show-cause hearing about the effects of RF radiation within seven days. Verizon, operating as Pittsfield Cellular Telephone, asked for a declaratory judgment from the U.S. District Court in Springfield against the city. 

 

The Health Board, citing fears of litigation, withdrew the order and the residents, in turn, sued the city for failing to protect them. 

 

The case was first heard in Superior Court on July 28, 2022, which dismissed the suit based on pre-emption of federal laws. The plaintiffs appealed and the Supreme Judicial Court, on its own initiative, transferred the case from the Appeals Court.