By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
It’s back to the drawing board for the Township Council, which rejected bids from two cell phone carriers interested in leasing a township-owned parcel on Carter Road for the construction of a cell phone tower.
Township Council rejected the bids — submitted by the Cellco Partnership, which also is known as Verizon Wireless, and by On Target Acquisitions — because of questions about the bid specifications. The council took action at its Tuesday night meeting.
Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun said township officials thought it was best to reject the bids because of the need to clarify some of the bid specifications. There were questions about the height of the antennas, maintenance and operation of the tower, he said.
“(Rejecting the bids and revising the bid specifications) is simply to make sure the bidders are working with a set of bid specifications that creates the fairest level of competition among those who want to participate,” Mr. Krawczun said.
The Cellco Partnership offered a bid of $30,000 per year to rent the 2-acre parcel on Carter Road, next to the Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. campus. On Target Acquisitions offered to lease the land for $12,000 per year.
The council decided in 2007 to allow construction of one or two cell towers on the township-owned parcel. The issue of locating the towers on the Carter Road site was raised during the course of the Cellco Partnership’s use variance application for a cell tower on the Peterson’s Nursery property on the corner of Route 206 and Province Line Road.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment denied the use variance application in December 2007. A use variance was needed because a cell tower is not a permitted use in the Environmental Protection-1 zone. The Peterson’s Nursery property is located in the EP-1 zone.
But a radio frequency engineer hired by the Cellco Partnership had identified the Carter Road property, located north of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. driveway, as a possible site for a cell tower during the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s public hearings on the use variance application.
Several neighbors objected to the proposal to construct a tower on the Carter Road site. The council decided in May 2008 to hold off on seeking bids for the cell tower until a lawsuit challenging the zoning board’s denial was resolved. The lawsuit, which has not been resolved, was filed by co-applicant New Cingular Wireless PCS LLC.
However, the council reversed its position in October and instructed Mr. Krawczun to prepare bid specifications for one or two towers on the Carter Road property. Former Mayor Mark Holmes said at the time that the rental income could help to offset some of the costs of emergency services.
The cell tower also would have an antenna for use by the Lawrence Township Police Department and the three volunteer fire companies, which would improve communication in the north end of the township.

