Could a Louisiana waterworks district lease water tower space for cellular antennas without public bidding?

Plain-English summary

Rapides Parish Waterworks District No. 3 asked whether it could lease space on a water storage tank for cellular antennas and whether competing companies had to bid for that space. The 1998 attorney general opinion said the district could make such a lease, but it had to comply with Louisiana's public bidding requirements for leases of public land.

The office said the lease law also covered improvements on public land, including the district's water tank. The presence of two interested companies did not change the answer: a lease of tank space had to use the statutory public bid process.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1998. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Waterworks districts at the time

The opinion allowed the district to lease tank space for antennas only through the public bid process it identified. It applied the public lands lease law to the tank as an improvement to public land.

Communications companies at the time

The opinion did not award the space to either interested company. It said the district's lease had to be let under the public bid requirements.

Common questions

Q: Could a public waterworks district rent part of a water tank to a cellular company?
A: The opinion said the district could lease the space, provided the lease complied with the public bidding law for public lands.

Q: Did a water tower count even though it was an improvement rather than bare land?
A: Yes. The office cited Louisiana appellate decisions applying the public lands lease statute to improvements on public land. It applied that rule to the district's water storage tanks.

Q: Could the district choose between two interested companies without a public bid?
A: The opinion said any lease of the district's property, including tank space, had to satisfy the public bidding requirements.

Background and statutory framework

The waterworks district proposed leasing high-rise water tank space for cellular antennas. It asked whether the lease and the presence of competing applicants required special procedures. The opinion applied La. R.S. 41:1211-1224, which it described as requiring public bids for leases of public land. It cited Giles and Cuccia for the law's application to improvements on that land.

Citations and references

• La. R.S. 41:1211-1224 (public land lease requirements, as cited in the opinion)
• Giles v. New Orleans City Park Improvement Assn, La.App. 4th cir. 1975, 306 So.2d 823
• Cuccia v. French Market Corp., La.App. 4th Cir., 1976, 334 So.2d 241

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/98-0194

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

~tate of ~oui~i~n~
One American Place
301 Ma~n Street, Suite 600
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. Box 94005
CIVIL DIVISION
TEL.: (504) 342-7013
FAX: (504) 342-2090
BATON ROUGE
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
A’I-[ORN EY GENERAL

J U N E 1 61998
OPINION NUMBER 98-194

OPINION NUMBER 98-194

90-B-2 PUBLIC LANDS - Leases of other than oil and gas
Mr. Gregory R. Aymond
La. R.S. 41:1211-1224.
Attorney at Law
P.O. Box 5503
Public entity may not lease space on water storage tank for
Alexandria, LA 71307
communications equipment without complying with Lease of
Public Lands law, R.S. 41:1211-1224.
Dear Mr. Aymond:

On behalf of the Rapides Parish Waterworks District #3 (the District) you have requested the opinion of this office on the following issues:

Can a public waterworks district as a political subdivision of the state lease space on top of a high-rise water storage tank for the placement of cellular communications antennas?

If a waterworks district is approached by two competing companies seeking to lease the same space, must the District use a bid procedure or any special procedures to enter into a lease?

The answer to both of your questions is found in La. R.S. 41:1211 and following. These statutory provisions establish the requirement that leases of public lands be let pursuant to a public bid process. The decisions in Giles v. New Orleans City Park Improvement Assn, La.App. 4th cir.
1975, 306 So.2d 823; and Cuccia v. French Market Corp., La.App. 4th Cir., 1976, 334 So.2d 241, make clear that this statute is also applicable to the lease of improvements to public lands, such as the water storage tanks owned by your Dislrict.

Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that any lease of the District’s property, including space on its water storage tanks, must be entered in compliance with the public bid requirements of R.S.
41 "1211-1224.

Page 2

Mr. Gregory R. Aymond
OPINION NUMBER 98-194
Page -2-

I trust that this answers your inquiry. Please let me know if we may be of further assistance to
you in this matter.

Yours very truly,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

~i s~t~nD?mCe’y
GeneraOTE
~1

RPI:GRD:jv