As a Marlboro resident who has continued to be vocally opposed to the T-Mobile cell tower built on Union Hill Road (and Route 9) two years ago, I have important advice for the residents of Freehold Township now facing the same situation. Be wary of T-Mobile because they are not nice people.
They don’t care about the impact that the tower will have on the aesthetics of your community. They don’t care about the health impact of 24/7 RF radiation on you, your family or your children. They don’t care about your property and resale values.
In short, they simply don’t care about any of your concerns.
What they do care about is the almighty dollar and the knowledge that a Howell resident can call a friend in Freehold, nothing more.
Based on my conversations with T-Mobile’s legal counsel, they regard protesters as nothing more than a nuisance who they claim represent a microcosm of their “millions of satisfied customers” who welcome their expansion efforts.
They will try to tell you that if you own a cell phone, that is reason enough to invite them into your neighborhood. They will also try to convince you that having a cell tower in your community is the next best thing to “apple pie and motherhood.”
Unlike in Marlboro, Freehold Township residents are organized and have wisely started the fight prior to anything being approved and built.
Marlboro was quite the opposite. The Kleinberg administration salivated at the thought of an easy $50,000 per year and did everything in their power to ensure that the Union Hill Road tower was built.
This included:
• Failing to notify local businesses and residences to ensure that protest was nonexistent.
• Building on adjacent municipal property so that they could legally disregard their own ordinances prohibiting such structures.
• Having Birdsall Engineering select the least pleasing (and cheapest) tower design and failing to perform a visual impact study.
• Giving a half-hearted effort to find an alternate location on either private or municipal property.
• Giving an open-ended 25- year lease that is only cancellable by the tower operator.
In short, the Kleinberg administration sold their soul to the devil and gave T-Mobile everything they wanted. By the time any resident knew what was happening, the large silver monopole was standing 145 feet tall (far larger than in Freehold Township). For $50,000, the previous administration compromised the property value of at least 200 residences to the tune of $50,000 each, if not more. No small achievement!
My advice to the residents in Freehold Township is to keep up the fight. A cell tower is like vermin. Once it’s in your neighborhood, it is nearly impossible to get it removed.
Howard P. Vogel
Marlboro

