An Oak Bluffs resident is challenging the approval of AT&T’s plans to install cellular equipment in town on the grounds that it could hurt the surrounding historic neighborhood.

John Neuhoff filed an appeal in Dukes County Superior Court last week, saying the Oak Bluffs select board should not have approved the cell company’s plans for wireless communication equipment on Pequot avenue.

The board voted unanimously at its August 22 meeting to approve the infrastructure, known as a small cell, on a Pequot avenue utility pole. The equipment was pitched to improve cell service in the area. At that meeting several residents as well as the Cottagers, Inc, an Oak Bluffs nonprofit, pushed back on the project.

Mr. Neuhoff owns a home on the street next to where the small cell is planned to be installed. He said the select board ignored the town’s zoning regulations when it greenlit AT&T’s application. If installed as planned, Mr. Neuhoff contends the small cell will be a detriment to the neighborhood.

“A [wireless communication facility] will stain Pequot Avenue with unwanted industrial technology and may affect home prices,” Mr. Neuhoff wrote in the Sept. 11 filing. “Renters and visitors who come to the park are enchanted by its history and traditional intrigue. All of this would be lost because of the [wireless communications facility].”

At the August 22 meeting, the board said notifications on the project were sent out in 2021 and the small cell shouldn’t be easily noticeable on the pole.

According to meeting minutes, the equipment includes a 24-inch antenna mounted on the pole and 8-inch radios to get service there.

Mr. Neuhoff and Oak Bluffs town administrator Deborah Potter did not respond to a request for comment on the suit this week. Oak Bluffs also hasn’t yet responded to the case in court.