Zoning – Cell phone tower – Telecommunications Act

Where a plaintiff corporation brought suit under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 after the defendant Milton Zoning Board of Appeals and the codefendant Milton Conservation Commission denied the plaintiff’s applications for permits and regulatory approval to construct a 140-foot cellular phone tower, a judgment for the defendants must be (1) affirmed as to the plaintiff’s claim that the defendants’ decisions were not supported by “substantial evidence” and (2) vacated and remanded as to a claim that the defendants’ decisions constituted an “effective prohibition” on the provision of wireless services in the area.