Cellco Partnership’s application for a 140-foot cell tower, slated to be heard by the zoning board Monday, was cancelled. A new date has not been set.
By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
The Cellco Partnership’s application for a use variance to build a 140-foot-tall cell tower on the Peterson’s Nursery property on Route 206 has been put on hold, according to township officials.
A use variance is needed because cell towers are not permitted uses in the Environmental Protection-1 residential zone, in which the Peterson’s Nursery property is located, according to a Jan. 26 report prepared by township planning consultants Brian Slaugh and Andrea Malcolm of Clarke Caton Hintz.
The Cellco Partnership was slated to make its case for the use variance before the Zoning Board of Adjustment Monday night, but the meeting was canceled earlier in the day. A new date has not been set.
Attorney Marc Citron, who represents the zoning board, decided to step down because of a conflict of interest, said Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun. Attorney David Roskos, who will substitute for Mr. Citron, had a schedule conflict and could not attend the meeting.
Mr. Roskos, who represented the zoning board during the Cellco Partnership’s failed bid for a use variance application in 1999, has asked the applicant’s attorney, Richard Stanzione, for a legal brief outlining his client’s reasons for making a similar application, Mr. Krawczun said.
Under the legal doctrine of "res judicata," an applicant whose request was denied cannot file a similar application, Mr. Krawczun said. It will be up to the applicant to make the point that the new application differs from the one that was rejected, he said.
The previous use variance application, which was denied by the Zoning Board of Adjustment in 1999, sought permission for a 120-foot-tall monopole for the exclusive use of the Cellco Partnership, or Verizon Wireless.
The Cellco Partnership sued the zoning board in state Superior Court and lost, and then appealed the case to the Appellate Division of state Superior Court. The Appellate Division upheld the lower court’s ruling in 2002.
Now, the Cellco Partnership, or Verizon, is teaming up with Cingular, Nextel and Sprint to construct a 140-foot-tall monopole tower that would contain four sets of telecommunications antennae.
Under the proposal, three equipment would be built within a 50-foot by 55-foot area at the base of the pole. The tower and equipment shelters are proposed for an area at the rear of the Peterson’s Nursery property.

