City of Huntington Beach v. Public Utilities Commission

Opinion

IKOLA, J.

Public Utilities Code section 79011 grants “telephone corporations” the privilege to construct infrastructure upon public rights-of-way, subject to a municipality’s “right to exercise reasonable control as to the time, place, and manner in which roads, highways, and waterways are accessed” (§ 7901.1, subd. (a)). In the proceeding under review, the Public Utilities Commission (commission or PUC) classified NextG2 as a telephone corporation and approved NextG’s proposed construction project in the City of Huntington Beach (the City).

The City is opposed to aspects of NextG’s…