Old Bridge zoners
question cell tower
Nearby residents
rallying in opposition
to its construction
BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer

OLD BRIDGE — Amboy Road neighbors Kevin Pruneau and Luis Medeiros have studied scientific research and believe the only way to avoid harmful effects of radiation from a cell tower is to move away from it.

That’s something they hope they and their neighbors are not forced to do.

Concerned about long-term health risks, residents in the vicinity of Amboy, Disbrow and Doyle roads and Van Ethel Drive are trying to stop the proposed construction of a cell tower at a storage facility on Route 34.

About 20 area residents attended last Thursday night’s use variance hearing before the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, which heard the application for the cell tower from Omnipoint Communications.

The residents’ resistance comes at the same time that a group of residents in neighboring Sayreville are also fighting a cell tower application. Sayreville residents who live near a proposed Verizon tower site at Main and Schmitt streets are expected to object during a Jan. 28 hearing before the borough’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.

In Old Bridge, Omnipoint is seeking variances for floor area ratio and landscaping area to build the cell tower and an accompanying equipment shed within a small, unmanned command center at Shurgard Storage Center, 158 Route 34 south. The storage facility is located just south of the state highway’s intersection with Amboy Road.

Although the board’s 11 p.m. curfew precluded residents from speaking at last week’s meeting, they will have their chance to do so on March 4 when the hearing continues, said Board Attorney Jerome Convery.

The board wants to hear from the residents, about eight of whom signed up to testify against Omnipoint’s application, Convery said. However, the board is following the standard protocol of allowing all of the applicant’s witnesses and experts to testify first before taking public comment, he added.

Members of the public can then comment on all of the presented testimony rather than just a portion of it, Convery said.

Omnipoint is seeking to build the 130-foot monopole bearing 12 antennae inside a 55-by-50-foot compound on the premises of the storage facility. The tower would fill in what Omnipoint’s witnesses described as a more than 1-mile gap in their coverage area around Route 34, Route 516 and Amboy Road.

At least one board member did not appear convinced that a new tower was necessary, especially when as many as five sites currently holding cell towers or high tension lines are located within a 5-mile radius of the proposed site.

Board Vice Chairman Harold Reck tried to persuade Omnipoint representatives that they could use those towers to complete the gap without erecting a new tower.

In addressing Richard Conroy, a radio frequency consultant testifying on Omnipoint’s behalf, Reck pointed to a township ordinance mandating that cell phone carriers share as many towers as possible in order to avoid the construction of new ones.

Monopoles are now situated within 1.5 miles of Shurgard’s site near Exit 120 of the Garden State Parkway on Laurence Parkway, behind the Cheesequake Fire Company No. 1 on Route 34, and at the township’s municipal complex, Reck said. A water tower on Higgins Road and high tension lines traversing Route 516 also have the capacity for a cell tower, he noted.

"I don’t see the need for another tower when all of these are located a mile and a half away in each direction," Reck told Conroy.

However, sharing the sites as suggested by Reck would result in redundancy of coverage and still leave gaps in some targeted areas, Conroy argued. Placing the necessary equipment and leasing space on those sites also would prove more costly to Omnipoint than building a single tower, he added.

In order to build its network and efficiently serve its users, Omnipoint needs a new site at Shurgard, Conroy said.

"We don’t like to build towers we don’t need," Conroy told Reck. "We like to co-locate wherever we can."

The proposed monopole could be leased to as many as five carriers, including Omnipoint, according to Christopher Neville, the applicant’s design engineer.

The compound will be buffered by surrounding landscaping, he added. The nearest residence is 400 feet away from the compound and an additional 15 feet from the monopole itself, Neville said.

Several board members stated that a portion of the Shurgard property is located in a residential zone with the balance situated in a commercial zone. Shurgard representatives had sought a use variance to build the storage facility partially in the residential zone when they first applied to build their site.

Township Engineer John Vincente verified that the applicant’s plans show the proposed cell tower and its compound within the commercial portion of the Shurgard property.

Still, Pruneau, Medeiros and their neighbors are worried that the radio frequency radiation from the tower would adversely affect the health of its neighbors.

In preparing to testify against the application, Pruneau and Medeiros cited medical research conducted in Canada, Australia and Europe showing that radio frequency radiation emanating from a cell tower can cause various diseases and chronic conditions.

Those conditions include forms of cancer, irregular heart rhythms, heart disease, neurological diseases including sleep disturbance, learning difficulties and negative reproductive effects, according to the residents.

"Our bodies absorb radiation every day through a cell phone, microwave, TV and even lights," Pruneau wrote in a statement. "However, these are items that we voluntarily chose to use and can minimize the effects of radiation to our bodies.

"We can stand several feet away from a microwave or TV, and we use them for only a short time period," Pruneau continued. "The radiation from a cell tower is 24 hours a day and you can’t hide from it. Your only choice is to move far enough away."

All residents living within 200 feet of the Shurgard facility were notified, Pruneau stated.

"It’s not that we’re against technology," Pruneau said. "We’d just like to see [the cell tower] in a safe, appropriate location."

Workers at the Park Plaza shopping center, located across Route 34 from the storage facility, could also be negatively affected by the radiation from the tower, he said.

"This will affect a lot more people than those [living] within 200 feet," Medeiros said.

Like Reck, Medeiros believes Omnipoint should share space on a nearby tower.

"There are two towers within a mile of this location. Why can’t they locate somewhere else on another pole?" he asked.

Although they were disappointed that time ran out before they could address the board, Pruneau, Medeiros and the other residents say they will use the additional time to gather more evidence to support their case.

Medeiros accused Omnipoint of putting profits ahead of its neighbors.

"It’s all about money. They want to make a profit," Medeiros said. "If they own their own tower, they can lease it and collect rent. Let them lease someone else’s tower."