T-Mobile at Board of Adjustment Wednesday

Cellular telephone carrier T-Mobile is scheduled to be back before the Board of Adjustment at its regular meeting tonight, continuing a pitch to build a new tower on the north side of town.

T-Mobile, based in Bellevue, Wash., has three open applications to build towers in Wall. The carrier wants to build towers at 3304 Belmar Blvd., near the Glendola Firehouse and at 1817 Old Mill Rd. Residents have blasted both plans at a December meeting.

The application to be heared tonight would build a 150-foot antenna at 5100 Belmar Boulevard, west of Route 34, on the Wall Business Center property, according to the board's agenda.

It is 30-feet higher than T-Mobile's two other applications, which are for 120-foot structures. It is also the only open application in town that is not in a residential area. The application scheduled for a hearing tonight is in a business park zone.

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The Board of Adjustment is scheduled to meet tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 2700 Alliare Rd.

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The company has eight cell towers either existing or proposed in town.

The company, like all cellular providers, is under orders by the Federal Communications Commission to provide a reliable network and the towers in each location will fill current gaps in its coverage, thereby satisfying the company's federal mandate, T-mobile engineer Gary Alcon has said.

But about 25 residents who attended the Dec. 8 board meeting weren't happy with the company's plans and pelted Alcon with questions about the size of the towers, the scope of T-mobile's claimed coverage gaps and the company's need for the towers.