AT&T withdraws Hā‘ena cell tower plan after community pushback

AT&T has withdrawn its plan for a 125-foot cellphone tower in Hā‘ena, ending a years-long fight over a project neighbors said was too close, too large and too disruptive for a tiny North Shore community.

The proposed tower was slated for a vacant residential lot less than 50 feet from one resident’s bedroom window in Hā‘ena, a place of about 200 people on the far end of Kauai’s North Shore. AT&T said the tower was meant to improve wireless service and help emergency responders in a region that can be cut off from the rest of the island by landslides and floodwaters. The company had also pointed to weak cellphone coverage in the area.

But the backlash was persistent and broad. More than 2,600 people signed an online petition against the tower in 2023, and more than 50 residents turned out for a May 31, 2023 informational meeting. No one in attendance voted in favor of the project. Residents raised concerns about radiofrequency emissions, property values, generator noise, storm damage, environmental harm and cultural impacts, turning the proposal into a test of how much infrastructure the North Shore would accept in the name of public safety.

In a May 1 letter, AT&T told the property owner it would dissolve a lease deal forged in 2021 for the site. The contract was terminated Friday, according to Civil Beat. Sarah Rodriguez, an AT&T spokesperson, said the company remains committed to improving wireless coverage and network reliability for public safety across Hawai‘i, but she did not say whether the company would look for another Hā‘ena location.

The withdrawal does not erase the underlying problem. Hā‘ena and the surrounding North Shore still sit in a service landscape where a single storm or landslide can interrupt access, complicating calls for help and routine communication alike. For county residents, the question now is whether the island can close those gaps without reigniting the same siting fight somewhere else.

The dispute also fits a familiar North Shore pattern. AT&T had already tried and failed to advance an earlier Hā‘ena tower proposal in 2014, underscoring how difficult it remains to place major utility infrastructure in a community determined to protect its rural character and shoreline setting.