Zoning Board Reschedules Tower Hearing

A lack of quorum for the zoning board meant two scheduled hearings, including the cell antenna tower proposed for the Dock Watch Quarry which has been drawing dozens of residents, had to be moved to May 2.

With four members present—including John Villani, Richard Hewson, George Dealaman and alternate Roberta Monahan—the board could little more than open the meeting, read its agenda, hear a question from resident Jonathan Wishnia regarding zoning ordinances and adjourn.

A steady stream of Warren and Bridgewater residents approached the Susie B. Boyce meeting room at the municipal complex hoping to hear testimony on T-Mobile's proposed cell antenna tower. Past meetings have filled the room, as engineers and consultant for the company explain the plans, while many residents challenge the proposal.

T-Mobile's consultants have testified the tower would enable cell phone service for much of the area along Dock Watch Hollow Road, though not all of it. The plan calls for a 160-foot tower to be placed on land owned by Somerset County.

Residents have objected to the placement of the tower on land purchased using open space tax funds, as well as the height, saying such a tower would lower property values and degrade the area's vistas. Some have urged the company to use less-intrusive systems, but T-Mobile denies such systems are viable.

The hearing will continue at 7 p.m. May 2, in the municipal complex.

The only other matter for the board's abreviated meeting concerned a hearing on a previously-installed fence on a Mountainview Road property that will require variances. That matter was also moved to the May 2 meeting.

During the section of the meeting opend for public comment, Wishnia asked about the process for changing zoning ordinances, which Villani said was a legal question best answered by the township's attorney and Township Committee. Wishnia, a resident of Emerson Drive, is opposed to a planned aquatics center on Hillcrest Road currently before the Planning Board.