Metro PCS Plans Cell Tower at VFW Lot

Metro PCS is planning to install a cell tower on Winslow Place, but will first see if the Borough has any locations it can use instead.

The mobile phone service provider's current plan is to build a 100-foot wireless communications tower designed to look like a flagpole on the lot of the .

On the ground, Metro PCS plans to install four equipment cabinets in a 17-by-6-foot area closed off by an 8-foot-tall fence.

Some members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment on Thursday asked whether the company could look into leasing space from the Borough instead. Board chairman Steve Sullivan said he didn't think they had "exhausted all possibilities."

"You don't know whether or not the town would be interested in leasing," he said.

Noelle Moeller was responsible for site acquisition for this project. She said Metro PCS had been looking for a site in the area for four years.

The owner of the 4 and 17 Professional Building on Madison Avenue already leases to numerous carriers on the roof of his building, and chose not to lease to Metro PCS, Moeller said. The company has never had any similar deals with the Borough.

Typically, wireless companies look for existing towers that can support telecommunications equipment. Metro PCS was considering the tower behind the Borough senior center, but it was destroyed in 2010.

Though the tower was rebuilt, it's not as tall as the proposed Winslow Place site at only 60 feet, Moeller said. Also, if the Borough wanted to lease to a wireless company, it would have put the lease out to bid, which it hasn't done, Moeller said.

The Winslow Place location would fill a gap in service for Metro PCS, said Syed Mujtaba, a radio frequency engineer for the company. A tower there would provide coverage along routes 4 and 17, where Metro PCS currently has unreliable coverage, he said.

Attorney Constantine Stamos said Metro PCS would approach the Borough before coming back before the Zoning Board of Adjustment on April 26.