BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — If you can make and receive cell phone calls while you’re in this town, you’re one of the few who can.
But borough officials are hoping that bad cellular and cut off calls will become as much a part of the past as rotary dialing with the installation of a temporary monopole at the town’s end of the Highlands-Sea Bright bridge.
For eight years, Councilman William “Jack” Keeler said he has heard, quite clearly, complaints from residents and municipal employees about spotty reception along the length of this oceanfront town.
“The cell phone service in Sea Bright is marginal,” Keeler said. “Even the police have trouble.”
As a short-term solution and to
fill in a service gap, the borough
is in talks with T-Mobile/Omnipoint Communications and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) to park a flatbed truck holding a temporary cellular tower at the foot of the bridge, Keeler explained.
The truck, which could remain in place until the DOT constructs a new replacement bridge as it expects to, would be parked on a grassy knoll encircled by one of the bridge’s turn-off lanes, the councilman went on.
If the new, higher fixed bridge is constructed by DOT, a more permanent tower, or antennae could be built onto the span’s sides to facilitate cellular telephone service and the temporary tower would be removed, Keeler continued.
“The DOT will keep us informed on this,” Keeler said.
However, because individual cell towers only cover about a 2 1/2-mile radius each, a more permanent structure in the borough’s downtown is in the works as well, he noted.
As a long-range solution and in conjunction with the proposed revitalization of the borough’s downtown, officials are also looking for a location to place a permanent monopole.
Given the high density of structures in town, officials are finding it a challenge to find an open space big enough to erect a cell tower and any accessory facilities such as a storage shed, Keeler explained.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a large enough parcel of land,” he said.
To address the situation, the borough has hired Innovative Engineering Inc. of Toms River, a subsidiary of Verizon, to search for a suitable location for the proposed monopole, Keeler said.
A technical crew from the firm will explore the feasibility of constructing a
tower near the municipally owned River Street pumping station and the Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) substation, two sites under consideration by the borough.
An area around the municipal parking area and located near the police headquarters and firehouse will also be surveyed by the technical crew, Keeler went on.
The borough has not contracted with any firm, including Verizon or any of its subsidiaries, to actually build the tower which would be owned by the municipality, Keeler pointed out.
Verizon, Innovative Engineering or any other contractor interested in building the tower would go through the borough’s competitive bidding process before any contract to construct the tower was awarded, he added.
“They understand that from our standpoint, we have to go out for public bidding,” Keeler said.
To make the best use of the tower, the borough would try to persuade several competing carriers to co-locate on the monopole, he said.