Brandon area residents oppose T-Mobile OK

Planners approved placement of nine cell phone antennae atop the Trenton Water Works tower

By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
   Residents of Brandon Farms are up in arms about the Hopewell Township Planning Board’s Oct. 18 approval of a T-Mobile application to put nine cell phone antennae atop the Trenton Water Works tower on Henley Place in the Mershon Chase section of the neighborhood.
   The tower is a short distance south of Pennington-Lawrenceville Road, from where it is plainly visible.
   About 20 Brandon Farms residents met Monday night at the Brandon Farms community center to strategize on how to stop T-Mobile from putting up the antennae.
   Township Committeeman John Murphy attended the meeting and echoed comments made earlier that day by Mayor Vanessa Sandom, who is a member of the Planning Board.
   ”The antennae are a permitted use under our ordinances, so there was no choice but to approve them,” Mr. Murphy said. “The township is talking to T-Mobile now to see if we have any recourse.”
   Lisa Haden, who lives about 80 feet from the tower, said her concern is not the appearance of the antennae, but the health danger she fears increased electromagnetic radiation could pose.
   ”There’s a lot of inconclusive evidence out there on whether this type of facility is a cancer threat, particularly to children,” she said at Monday’s meeting. Several other residents made similar comments.
   ”This end of town is viewed as a dumping ground,” declared Leslie Henderson of Amberleigh Drive. Ms. Henderson is secretary of the Brandon Farms condominium association. She chafed at the fact that T-Mobile withdrew, on Monday, its application to the township Zoning Board of Adjustment to build a cell phone tower on Harbourton-Woodsville Road. That location is in a rural section of the township.
   ”I can feel your frustration when you say Brandon Farms is a dumping ground, but that’s not my perception or the township government’s perception,” Committeeman Murphy responded.
   Several residents suggested putting the cell antennae at Twin Pines Airport. The township has been negotiating for months with the Weasner family, which owns the airport, on buying it. If the deal goes through, the grass runway portion of the 50-odd acres would be used for athletic fields. The cell antennae could be put in a wooded area that borders, to the north, the runway area. The airport is located across Pennington-Lawrenceville Road from the water tower.
   ”We need to find an alternative site,” said Richard Lee of Henley Place. “T-Mobile is not going to go away.” After the meeting adjourned, Mr. Lee smiled and said, “I don’t mind the tower. When I see it, I know I’m almost home. It was here when I moved here.”
   Like Ms. Haden and others, he is concerned about the increased electromagnetic radiation. “We need to find an alternative site and change the ordinance simultaneously,” he said.
   ”We need to write state and local officials about this, and write T-Mobile about it,” Ms. Haden declared. “We need to write letters to the editor. And we need to turn out in force at the Nov. 13 Township Committee meeting.”
   No formal action to change the planners’ Oct. 18 OK of the T-Mobile application can be taken by the Township Committee, but the committee, according to Mayor Sandom, is planning to review existing municipal law related to cell installations.
   Bruce Gunther, of Pebble Creek Court and president of the Brandon Farms condominium association, agreed that those opposed to the tower must organize and be proactive. He also stressed that the Township Committee “is responsive to us. They represent us.”
   Among the issues the residents say they will investigate is whether the Oct. 18 Planing Board meeting met all legal notice requirements.