Groveville banding together to oppose plan
Susan Van Dongen
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — In an effort to make Bordentown Township the newest link in its chain of emergency communications sites, the Burlington County Department of Emergency Management has proposed erecting a 200-foot tower behind the Mission Fire Company house on Groveville Road.
And just like residents in North Hanover who have expressed outrage about a proposed tower in their township, residents of the Groveville section of this township are banding together in opposition.
A group of neighbors in the Wellington Woods development is especially concerned. The neighbors are forming a task force to deal with the issue.
“We want to present ourselves as a unified group and make some good points to the board,” said Wellington Woods resident Gina Sheppard. “We’re not experts, and that’s why we’re forming this task force. It won’t just effect us, and we hope others in the community will join with us to get the tower moved someplace else.”
“We’ll be closest to the tower, but it will impact many more homes than just ours,” said local resident Craig Hutton. “We only just learned of the county’s application to the zoning board, through a letter that was sent to about a dozen property owners.”
According to Harold DeLaRoi, management specialist for Burlington County freeholders, the application for the tower was submitted just in time for the March 15 township Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting.
However, the hearing on the public safety tower was postponed until April 12 because the board spent the entire meeting discussing the proposed Wawa Superstore at Route 130 and Groveville Road.
Mr. DeLaRoi said that the tower’s site isn’t cast in stone.
“We’re going through the normal local review process and the zoning board is our first stop,” said Mr. DeLaRoi. “As with all of the other sites, we did not restrict ourselves to one site, but investigated several existing sites and other towers in the township, including those belonging to the state police and PSE&G.
“Unfortunately, either these towers did not meet our needs or they were already loaded and there was no space available,” he said.
Mr. Hutton and other residents of the Wellington Woods neighborhood are concerned that the area around the Mission Fire company is wetlands.
“It’s a rural, wetlands area,” Mr. Hutton said, adding that the area is prone to flooding.
“We moved here five years ago because of the rural setting and because it was near the wetlands,” said Ms. Sheppard. “We look out our windows and it’s beautiful. We’ve developed a nice community here and we don’t want to see this jeopardized.
“We’re not opposed to having the tower somewhere in the township. We’re just hoping it could be somewhere else. We understand the need for emergency services, but we’re hoping the county will explore some alternatives.”
“There are 17 children in our little neighborhood alone,” said Mr. Hutton, who moved from Trenton to this area about two years ago. “Officials say there is no risk of health problems with these public safety towers, but we’re just not sure. We’re concerned about what may happen down the road. We want it farther away from our families and children.”
Mr. DeLaRoi acknowledged these concerns. But he said county engineers have surveyed the site in accordance with environmental regulations. “We’re not lackadaisical about our site selections. We’ve done our homework on all the sites throughout the county.”
The bottom line, he said, is that the communications network is needed. “With the existing system, there are dead spots where we’re not able to transmit, especially with the newer portable units and pagers.”
Residents are optimistic that they will have their facts straight in time for the next zoning board meeting on April 12.
“We’re going to be very pro-active about this issue,” said Mr. Hutton.