this mayor of Vendée continues his standoff with Free

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Free Mobile asked the summary judge administrative court of NantesFriday November 22, 2024, from suspend the decision of the mayor of L'Île-d'Olonne, who had refused the installation of a 32 meter high relay antenna overlooking the Auzance and the Olonne marshes.

Free Mobile more specifically referred the matter to the judge on the basis of an interim suspension, an emergency procedure which allows an administrative decision to be suspended in the event of an emergency and serious doubt about its legality.

The mobile telephone operator believes that there is an urgent need to “resolve [le] cover hole” of L’Île-d’Olonne.

The commune, for its part, considers itself “already covered in relay antennas by other operators” and reported having problems “only with Free”. “The municipality proposed to Free Mobile to sign a charter that all the other operators signed to discuss an appropriate location,” recalled its lawyer, Me Thibaut Lenfant, who represented Me Geoffroy de Baynast at the hearing. .

On the serious doubt, Free Mobile's lawyer recalled that a few months ago, the summary judge of the same court had suspended the execution of a previous decision of refusal of the mayor on this same project and had ordered to re-instruct the case. This time, a “material error” on the location plan of the file would be at the origin of the mayor's refusal to authorize the installation of the relay antenna.

Accused of wanting to deceive the municipality

Free recognizes this error, but argued that the Cerfa form that he submitted to the town hall mentioned the correct plot and that other plans such as the layout plan were compliant, as well as the “photographic reproduction allowing the appreciation of the 'integration of the project as a whole'.

“If this was really the municipality's reason for opposition, it could have requested additional information, which it did not do,” concluded Free Mobile's lawyer.

“This reflects an opposition in principle from the municipality and it is a means likely to give rise to serious doubt as to the contested decision. »

But the municipality finds Free’s project “extremely vague”. “The visuals actually correspond to the real plot, but regarding the situation and the location in the town – which is central – three visuals lead us to believe that it would be a continuation of a very urbanized place,” he said. he developed.

Me Thibaut Lenfant also believes that the operator committed fraud in this fileby wanting to mislead the municipal administration. “Free Mobile files these kinds of files every day… I think there is a desire to do things a little quickly with the idea that it goes like a letter in the post,” he told judge.

“He is not a petitioner like any other and this type of error should not appear in the file. There is a desire to deceive, in my opinion. »

But “we wonder Free’s interest in producing an erroneous situation plan,” replied the operator’s lawyer.

Several procedures

As a reminder, several proceedings have already opposed the mayor of L'Île-d'Olonne Fabrice Chabot and Free Mobile in the past. A first ended in 2022 with the final victory of the local elected official: a first relay antenna project imagined at a place called “Chétif Pré” had been censored by the administrative court of Nantes on the merits.

Beforehand, the elected official had opposed three successive refusalswhich had been successively suspended by the summary judge. “The mayor did not lack legal imagination to oppose the project…”, summarized the public rapporteur during the examination of the file in 2022.

The dispute flared up again last summer regarding the installation of this new relay antenna. An order from the emergency judge ruled in favor of Free on July 23, 2024, and the “appeal filed before the Council of State” by the municipality was not admitted.

In this last part of this legal saga, Free is therefore asking for €5,000 in legal costs from the community, which is asking €1,500 for its share. The summary judge of the Nantes administrative court, who has reserved his decision, will issue his order in the coming days.

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