Board of Adjustment Approves New Cell Tower

Plans to build a cell phone tower on property at 34 Maple Ave. were unanimously approved on August 4 by the township board of adjustment.

"This is an appropriate site for the tower," Joshua Cottrell, a consultant with site engineering firm French and Parriello, told the board prior to the vote. "The adjacent wetlands are undevelopable."

The 100-foot-high monopole, as it is called, will be located in the northeast corner of the property near Interstate 80 and will be used for communications by T-Mobile. The township's police, fire and emergency squads will also have access to the structure for their emergency equipment.

Originally, plans called for the tower to be built elsewhere in the parking lot on the property occupied by an existing two-story structure. It was determined that moving the monopole to the new site would make it more aestheticlly pleasing as it would be closer to trees forming a boundary between the property, Route 80 and a neighboring wetlands.

Cottrell said three parking spaces on the 34 Maple Ave. property will be lost due to the tower's construction, but that T-Mobile plans to add an additional 15 parking spaces on the property.

"We will need to get new (Department of Environmental Protection) approval for the tower," Cottrell said, noting that the DEP had already given its approval to the original tower site.

A nearby vacant lot that is owned by the township is also adjacent to the tower site, Cottrell said.

Meghan Hunscher, an urban planner, told the board that the new site meets all of the criteria of the original plan.

"This is a better site as it is further away from nearby residences," Hunscher said. "We are relocating the pole further away physically and aesthetically from environmentally sensitive areas. This site would not have a negative impact on those nearby residences."

The board, following a short discussion, suggested that the pole be designed to look like an evergreen tree, rather than a standard steel monopole.

Board member Kenneth Shirkey was concerned about landscaping around the tower site, saying some type of landscaping should be added in front of the pole.

"It will be surrounded on two sides by landscaping," Cottrell said, "but landscaping in front may interfere with traffic circulation in the parking lot. The (parkling lot's) access road runs in front of the site."

Cottrell, though, did say that T-Mobile will consider landscaping in front of the pole.

"There should be landscaping in front of the tower," Shirkey said.