Board will hire attorney for cell tower application
Residents question whether outside experts will look at cell tower
BY LIZ SHEEHAN
Correspondent

FAIR HAVEN - After hearing residents' questions concerning the Verizon-Omnipoint application to build a 133-foot cell tower in the borough, the Zoning Board decided to hire a professional engineer, a planner and a radio frequency expert to evaluate the application.

The board acted after listening to residents' questions about the proposal to build a tower on the property of the Church of the Nativity, including whether the board would use independent experts to evaluate the proposal.

The meeting on the Verizon application last Thursday was the second time the Zoning Board heard testimony about the proposal. At both meetings, expert witnesses for the applicant have testified and their testimony has been questioned by residents and an attorney representing the borough.

Last week's board meeting was a special meeting at which only the cell tower application was considered. Today at 7:15 p.m., the board will hold a regular meeting at which the cell tower and other applications will be heard.

Residents who live near the church property questioned Peter Longo of Innovative Engineering Inc., who represented Verizon, about the possible effects that the construction of the tower and its accessory structures could have on the flooding problems already in the area.

Longo said that the site was so small that there would be no impact.

Noel Tonneman asked if filling a 20-foot-deep hole with concrete for the foundation of the tower would have an impact on drainage.

Longo responded that if there were drainage problems, engineering techniques could be used to correct them.

Longo was also questioned about the removal of 24 trees from the site. Stuart Lieberman, an attorney hired by the Borough Council to represent the borough at the zoning board meetings, asked Longo if he was aware that the trees absorbed hundreds of gallons of water a day and their removal would "be significant" if there was a flooding problem.

Thomas Gilmour, the president of the Borough Council, asked if it would be possible to place the equipment needed for the tower inside already existing buildings on the church property rather than have the 60-by-60-foot fenced in area for the equipment that is proposed.

Jim Kennedy, chairman of the Planning Board, asked Longo if, using the same criteria he applied to the church site, other locations in the town would also be suitable for the tower.

"Sure," Longo replied.

Toward the end of the three-hour meeting, Warren Stillwell, the attorney for Verizon and Omnipoint, said that he realized that the application would take a long time to be heard and decided. There were 43 meetings on a similar application in Ho-Ho-Kus," he said.

"I sure hope that doesn't happen here," he added.

Stillwell said that his client would not seek a time limit on the application process.

The Zoning Board hearings on the Church of the Nativity site began last month, two days after the Borough Council chose the police station as the preferred site for a cell tower.

The town passed an ordinance in 2004 requiring that cell towers be placed only on borough-owned property.

After that ordinance was passed, the borough tried unsuccessfully to obtain permission from the state Green Acres program to locate the tower in Fair Haven Fields.

After the refusal by the state, three sites were chosen by the council - the police station, the public works area and the former chipping site - and all met with protest from residents.

At the first board hearing, Stillwell said that a previous state court decision had overturned a similar ordinance in Ringwood that restricted cell towers to borough property.

Opinion in the borough on the cell tower is divided with some strongly opposed to a tower, while others say there is poor cell phone reception in the borough and a tower is needed.