Land swap proposed for cell tower site
Borough offers five parcels for cell tower site at Fair Haven fields
BY LIZ SHEEHAN
Correspondent

Fair Haven

FAIR HAVEN - The borough last week submitted a proposal to the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) seeking permission to swap five properties, including the site formerly used as a brush chipping site, for permission to use a portion of Fair Haven Fields as the site for a cell tower.

A previous attempt by the town to make a swap was rejected by the DEP, which said that it did not permit cell towers on property acquired through the state's Green Acres Program, as was the land for Fair Haven Fields.

In September, then-Mayor Joseph Szostak, Borough Council President Tom Gilmour, Councilman Chris Walrath and Assemblyman Michael Panter (D-12), with Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck (R-12) discussed the issue via a conference call with DEP representatives.

The officials asked the agency "to make an exception" to its rule of forbidding cell towers on Green Acres property, Gilmour said after the meeting.

He said DEP officials told the borough to draw up a report with its reasons for asking for the land swap and submit it to the agency.

In 2004, the Borough Council passed an ordinance that restricted cell tower locations to only borough-owned property, in order to gain the revenues for the town and to be able to regulate where the tower was sited.

Poor cell phone service in some areas of the Fair Haven was cited as the reason that placing a tower in the town should be looked into by the council.

Since that time, attempts by the Council to select a site for the tower in the town have met with strong opposition from residents, including the threat of legal action.

After much study, the council selected land at the borough's police station but after learning that location would need approval from the DEP, a new selection was made of property on Fisk Street, just down the street from the police station, on a lot between two residences.

While the town was looking for a site and seeking permission for the use of Fair Haven Fields, Verizon Wireless has been pursuing its plan to place a 133-foot-tall cell tower on the property of the Church of the Nativity on Ridge Road.

The company has made several appearances before the town's Zoning Board, with the next one scheduled in February, seeking to have its proposal approved.

At one of the meetings, when the fact that borough's ordinance did not allow a cell tower on any property not owned by the town was brought up, Warren Stillwell, attorney for Verizon, said that a similar ordinance in Ringwood had been overturned by a state court.

The plan to place the tower at the church is opposed by some residents near the church and also by some of the church's parishioners, who have said they had not been consulted by the pastor of the church about allowing the cell tower on the church property.

In the new proposal submitted to the DEP by the borough, the town offers the DEP four lots close to the intersection of William Street and Hendrickson Place adjacent to the former chipping site, which is part of the land that is preserved by the borough.

The lots and the former chipping site would be brought back to their original state and be included in the Fair Haven Fields park.

In return, the borough asks for a tenth of an acre in Fair Haven Fields to use for the cell tower.

According to the borough, the income that is received from the cell tower would be used for park maintenance and recreation as part of the proposal.