Tower plans too close for residents' comfort

If a couple of recent Old Bridge proposals are any indication, wireless phone companies need to do a better job of choosing sites for their cell towers. Though they provide a useful service to the community, these companies should not be constructing or even proposing towers that hover over residential developments.

The township Planning Board last week rejected a cell tower plan from Verizon Wireless because it would have been located less than a few hundred feet from the Madison Gardens apartment complex (and this was after the company agreed to move it farther from the residential area).

The board used good judgment in rejecting the plan, as it fell far short of the minimum 500-foot setback buffer required by township ordinance.

Omnipoint is also before the Planning Board, seeking to locate a 120-foot tower on a 1-acre parcel behind the Old Bridge Veterinary Clinic at Route 516 and Jake Brown Road. The application was discussed July 11, and the hearing was adjourned until September.

Planning Board members and residents of the adjacent Whispering Pines Estates made it clear that they strongly dislike the proposed site, with board Chairman Larry Redmond even telling Omnipoint that he doubts the board can be convinced to approve the plan. "These things are big. ... Nobody wants to look outside their homes and see these," Redmond said, as residents expressed concerns that the tower would be twice as tall as the trees in their neighborhood.

The tower would be located 138 feet from homes in the adjacent development, which like the Verizon plan is in noncompliance with the township's setback requirements. Such zoning regulations are there to keep the public safe and to protect quality of life; there does not appear to be a real good reason for the board to grant relief from that requirement in these cases.

If new cell towers are needed in the area, the wireless communications companies should look to erect them on industrial sites or in more undeveloped areas. Given the threat of litigation that results from rejected cell tower applications, perhaps township officials can work with representatives of these companies to help guide them to locations that may be more appropriate.