Controversial Cell Tower Moving Ahead

T-Mobile is moving forward with the construction of a controversial 90-foot cell tower to be placed at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church on Center Street.

Permits were issued Wednesday, but it was unclear when construction would begin, according to the New Milford Building Department. Englewood-based Squan Construction, which will be erecting the tower on the church's property, did not immediately return calls for comment. 

The construction of the cell tower - which would be disguised as a flag pole - has been debated for more than three years, drawing the ire of several residents, who claimed it would be an eyesore, and eventually ending up in court.

Rev. Anthony Iovine, pastor of St. Matthew's, said the church had not yet been notified that permits had been granted or that T-Mobile had won their approval for the tower. 

"We were kept in the dark, just waiting to be told when the project would begin," Iovine said Thursday.

Representatives from T-Mobile also did not immediately respond to inquiries regarding the project.

Omni Point T-Mobile, which has since been acquired by AT&T, initially appeared before the borough's Zoning Board of Adjustment in June 2008. The board denied their application in 2009 and the company appealed that denial with the state Superior Court. T-Mobile won their appeal in January 2010 when Judge Joseph Conte ruled that the Zoning Board acted in an "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable" manner when it denied the variance application for aesthetic reasons. 

The Zoning Board, which had ruled that the design of a flag pole was not sufficient "camouflauge" to earn the variance, appealed Conte's decision and lost. The Appellate Court affirmed Conte's ruling in February. 

"The Board failed to engage in the balancing of the positive and negative impacts of the facility, and erroneously found that the adverse visual impact of the facility, and plaintiff's failure to employ what it termed the highest and best means of camouflage for the facility, was sufficient to warrant denial of plaintiff's application," said the appellate court decision.

Many of the neighboring homeowners have protested the construction of the cell tower for the last three years, with some putting up lawn signs that read, "Do the Right Thing, Stop the Cell Tower."

Center Street resident Danielle LoPorto, a vocal opponent of the plan, said the tower would cast "a giant shadow" over the neighborhood. 

"So, regardless of the fact that T-Mobile has been acquired by AT&T and will have plenty of infrastructure to support its network, regardless of the fact that new technology has reduced the size of cell towers to significantly smaller cell sites, regardless of the fact that we have all expressed our disgust and disappointment at St. Matthew's for bringing this to our neighborhood, it will go up; smack in the middle of the most historic section of town," LoPorto said.

"It is a blaring and constant reminder that even churches will forsake their communities for the mighty dollar," she said.

Iovine said entering into the contract for the construction of the cell tower was not something that his congregation took lightly.

"We studied the proposal and we discussed it and we prayed about it," said Iovine. "We understood the fears that some of our neighbors had regarding questions about health concerns because we had the same concerns."

Iovine said both he and the congregation undertook research, studied the potential health concerns, and did their best to ensure that the "aesthetic effect will be minimized."

"I took up a lot of the studying because I live next door to the church myself," said Iovine. "I had the same concerns as some of our neighbors and I wanted to make sure we had all the facts because this was not something we did quickly, we had a lot of discussion in the congregation."

St. Matthew's Church will be compensated for the use of their property by T-Mobile although no official dollar amount had been released. 

"We are receiving a fee for the use of the property for the tower and we made a commitment and signed a contract for this project," said Iovine.

LoPorto expressed concern that the approval of the tower on St. Matthew's lawn will lead to more cell towers being constructed in the borough.

"The issuance of these nine variances will open the flood gates to any other yahoos that want to slap a cell tower on their property for monetary gain, regardless of the fact that we, as a town united, decided unanimously that we have no love whatsoever for this, this potentially health threatening, home value crushing, 90 foot thorn in the side of all New Milford," said LoPorto.

Iovine said not all of the neighbors of the church felt the same as LoPorto.

"We have been in this community for 115 years and we are moving forward with lots of ministries and our church is growing," said Iovine.