Strategic Advocacy Shields Telecommunications Company from Significant Expenses and Litigation
When a regulation in Duvall County (Florida) requiring higher wind-load design for cellular phone towers threatened to cost a national telecommunications company thousands of dollars to implement, the company reached out to Holland & Knight.
The regulation had begun influencing similar considerations in another Florida county (Leon). Holland & Knight lawyers knew that if the definition of wind-load could be clarified on the state level, it would neutralize the additional costs imposed on the company by all Florida local governments.
The lawyers developed an initial strategy to petition the Florida Building Commission for a clarification of conflicting code provisions regarding what is known as the "importance factor," but when the Commission became split on its response, Holland & Knight's public advocacy team joined with the company's existing lobbying team to successfully amend F.S. Section 553.73.
Just hours before the end of the 2008 regular legislative session, House Bill 697 passed, which contained language specifying the code clarification of wind-load design.