By elaine van develde
Staff Writer
TINTON FALLS — Enough controversy follows the subject of cell towers and antennas that officials sponsored special meetings designed to inform residents of two new pending projects on the Garden State Parkway.
Both proposals are from Omnipoint Facilities Network 2 LLC, Woodbridge.
The different plans were discussed by state Highway Authority representatives at two separate meetings held Jan. 29 and 30 because they will be on Garden State Parkway property.
One is to add 60 feet and antennas to an existing 80-foot tower which sits near the Asbury Park toll plaza on the Garden State Parkway. This is to enhance existing cell coverage in a properly elevated area.
The other plan, slated for near exit 109 on the parkway, is to erect a new lattice tower with 12 antennas. This is to provide cell coverage in an area where there’s a serious gap in transmission that leaves people without service. There is a capacity on this triangular structure for more antennas from different companies in the future.
"The theory is that the cell companies are justified in providing service where it lacks and could pose a problem for people," Councilman Jerome Donlon said. "They have maps of the area and where it shows the gaps are, where there could potentially be a new facility. If you were unfortunate enough to break down in this area right now, you would have a problem."
Though these and other such projects do not fall within local jurisdiction, Charles D. McMannus, chief engineer of the New Jersey Highway Authority, came to Tinton Falls to explain what was to be done and listen to public comment.
McMannus explained that there is a license agreement between the Highway Authority and Omnipoint to allow for the structures on state land. The federal government regulates the towers’ and antennas’ placement. The communications companies seek to place the structures where placement has already been sanctioned by federal guidelines.
If the structures were to be erected on private or borough property, the issue would be heard by a planning and/or zoning board on the local level.
Still, residents living within 200 feet of the planned structures were notified, said Donlon, who also sits on the borough’s planning board.
There were also those, he said, who had concerns about carcinogenic effects of the radiation and proximity of the tower addition proposed near the Asbury Park toll plaza to borough schools.
The answer was that the tower in question was 1,100 feet from Monmouth Regional High School.
Donlon added that two professors who live in the borough, Carl Calendar and Carl Cuttita, questioned danger from what they deemed close proximity to radiation waves.
Expert Dan Collins spoke to the wave issue, Donlon said. "He indicated that there’s more exposure to radiating waves if you walk down the hallway of a hospital or stand in your kitchen with lights, a refrigerator, microwave and phone," according to the councilman. "People are all transmitters and receivers of energy. I understood that. So did others. But they voiced the opinion that years ago people also thought cigarettes were harmless. I had my own concerns. They did promise to try to move the structures farther from the school."