Sprint can reinstall cellphone antennas atop a tall building in Scranton without having to get a zoning variance first, a judge ruled.

The company won its appeal of a city zoning board decision that required the firm to get a variance to reinstall antennas atop a 10-story condo building at 550 Clay Ave. in the Hill Section.

There used to be several cell antennas on the building, from 1997, when Nextel received a variance, to 2013, when Sprint removed antennas. (The companies merged in 2005.)

Sprint already had antennas atop a different building — the Sandone Tire warehouse on Wyoming Avenue — and no longer needed the condo building on Clay Avenue.

After fire destroyed the Sandone warehouse in summer 2015, Sprint sought to use the condo roof again. The city zoning officer denied a permit because the condo building is in a residential zone where cell antennas are not allowed automatically, as they are in commercial zones.

Sprint appealed that permit denial to the zoning board. At a June hearing, Sprint argued that state Act 191, the Wireless Broadband Collocation Act enacted in 2012, allows the firm to reinstall antennas without having to get zoning approval again.

The zoning board disagreed and determined that Sprint and co-applicant Plaza 550 Condominium Association would need a variance.

Sprint appealed the zoning decision to Lackawanna County Court, claiming Act 191 trumps a variance.

In an Oct. 14 ruling, Judge Trish Corbett agreed with Sprint and reversed the zoning board decision as "an error of law." The case involved a mere interpretation of Act 191, whether the condo building is a wireless support structure and whether Sprint's plan constitutes substantial changes in height of antenna placement.

Judge Corbett ruled the building is a support structure and reinstalling antennas in the same spots does not represent a change in height.

The building "can support and has supported the placement of wireless telecommunications facilities," the ruling said. "Sprint will be placing antennas on the already approved wireless support structure in the same location and in the same configuration as the previous owner's antennas."

Some residents and the Hill Neighborhood Association opposed Sprint's plan to return cell antennas to the condo building's roof.

"The Hill Neighborhood is disappointed that Sprint was able to bypass the city ordinance that states cell towers/antennas are not permitted in a residential area," HNA President Nicole Pettinato said in an email. "The HNA is committed to fight any company that wants to put antennas in our neighborhood."

Contact the writer:

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com,

@jlockwoodTT on Twitter