Omnipoint told to find new cell tower location
Residents, board members unhappy with current proposal
BY KRISTIN BOYD
Correspondent

Several residents of Whispering Pines Estates sat patiently for nearly three hours at town hall Tuesday night, awaiting their chance to speak about a controversial cell tower application.

The Old Bridge Planning Board opened the floor for public comment as 11 p.m. neared, and one by one, the residents rattled off their concerns about Omnipoint Communications' plan to build a cell tower near their residential development.

It's unsightly. It's too big. And it's too close, they said.

"It's right over me," resident Susan Finn said. "I can't believe this is happening."

Omnipoint wants to construct a 120-foot cell tower on a 1-acre parcel behind the Old Bridge Veterinary Clinic at Route 516 and Jake Brown Road.

No decision was made at Tuesday's meeting, and Omnipoint's application was continued to September.

The tower, according to company representatives, would be located approximately 138 feet from homes in the Whispering Pines Estates. That bothers residents and some Planning Board members.

"I'm not very hopeful that you're going to convince this board" to approve the application, Planning Board Chairman Larry Redmond said midway through Omnipoint's presentation. "These things [cell towers] are big, they're large. Nobody wants to look outside their homes and see these."

Board member Eugene Dunlop, concerned about the increasing number of cell tower applications before the board, said a township ordinance requires that towers be at least 500 feet away from residential property lines unless a variance is approved.

"It's a 500-foot ordinance, and you're down at 138 [feet]," Dunlop said, shrugging his shoulders. "Why can't you meet the 500-foot setback?"

Omnipoint representatives said the tower would be located in a corner of the wooded property, as far as possible from homes at Whispering Pines.

But that's not far enough, Redmond said.

"If it fell over, it would be 15 feet from a house," he said. "I know it's a remote possibility, but I'm just pointing out the proximity. For my money, it's just too close."

The cell tower and several equipment cabinets would be built within a 25-foot-by-25-foot compound. The tower would include six antennas - each 12 inches wide and 6 feet long - and be capable of holding at least three carriers.

Due to mergers, there are four telecommunications carriers, including Omnipoint, in the township, company representatives said.

"So you guys are getting smaller, but you need more poles," Redmond asked, half jokingly. "Less companies, more poles. I'm not following the logic here."

Redmond asked why the company could not put a cell tower in one of the township's industrial areas. "It just seems like there has to be other ways [to do this]," he said.

Board member Anita Greenberg agreed. She suggested the Planning Board and other township officials work together to locate more appropriate areas for cell towers to save time, money and resources.

As public comment continued, resident Lucy Chencinski said the cell tower will be unsightly since it's twice the height of trees in Whispering Pines. She also raised concerns about traffic congestion during the company's 30-day construction period.

Resident Elliott Rifkin, who believes the township's 500-foot ordinance protects the public, questioned why the company was trying to build a cell tower on a "postage-stamp property."

However, due to time, many of the residents' questions went unanswered. The Omnipoint application was continued to the Planning Board's Sept. 12 meeting.

In a separate matter, the Planning Board granted Omnipoint several waivers for the company's proposal to build a cell tower near Route 34 and Morristown Road.

The company will not have to submit information about an aquifer recharge assessment, storm drainage facilities, street profiles and pavement and curb details.

However, representatives must still submit an environmental impact study and information about grading, size and types of existing trees, and finished floor elevations.

In addition, Township Planner Sam Rizzo requested that representatives provide information on what would be disturbed in the area if a 130-foot cell tower is built.