Pa. County Seeks to Force Verizon to Pay ‘Fair Market’ Rent for Its Use of Right of Way
Many portions of the telephone facilities and conduit under Verizon’s control along a funicular in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, “remain in disrepair,” alleged the county in an October 10 complaint in state court that Verizon removed Tuesday to U.S. District Court…
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for Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh (docket 3:23-cv-00108). The funicular, called the Inclined Plane, travels along the "steep slope" of Yoder Hill, connecting the city of Johnstown to the borough of Westmont, it said. Verizon failed to maintain its communications facilities by allowing for the subpar conditions “to manifest and remain,” it said. Until those conditions are repaired, Verizon will remain in breach of its lease agreement with the county, it said. The county will continue to suffer lost revenue for any extended period of time the funicular is shut down, it said. Under federal guidelines, “where federal funding is used in the procurement of communications facilities, land used for such facilities must be compensated for at fair market value,” it said. Despite the county’s attempts to renegotiate the right of way agreement Verizon inherited from GTE “to provide for rent from Verizon at fair market value to comply with such guidelines,” Verizon hasn’t actively participated in such negotiations, “and continues to pay no rent for its use of the right of way,” it said.