LAWRENCE:After 12 years, cell tower gains site approval

BY Lea Kahn
   The 12-year battle over placement of a cell tower came to a peaceful end last week.
   The township Zoning Board of Adjustment signed off Feb. 16 on the proposed site plan for the Cellco Partnership’s planned cell tower at the Peterson’s Nursery property at 3730 Lawrenceville Road, also known as Route 206.
   In December the board granted a use variance to the Cellco Partnership, with the understanding that it would return with a site plan.
   A use variance was needed because a cell tower is not a permitted use in the Environmental Protection-1 residential zone. The Peterson’s Nursery Property is located in the EP-1 zone.
   The Cellco Partnership had been in and out of court over the use variance since 1999. The zoning board denied the initial use variance application in 1999 and also denied a revised proposal in 2007. The applicant appealed, and the zoning board was ordered to reconsider the use variance application.
   The plan approved last week locates the 140-foot-tall tower toward the middle of the Peterson’s Nursery property and away from the front of the property, as had been initially proposed when the application was approved in December.
   Meanwhile, it was agreed that the tower would be disguised with fake tree branches so it would blend into the wooded site. The antennas for the four carriers — Cellco/Verizon, AT&T/Cingular, Sprint and Nextel — would be placed inside the tower.
   It was also agreed that the billboards at the front of the property on Route 206 would be removed before the tower could be built. A provision was made to allow special radio transmission equipment used by Lawrence Township emergency services to be located there.
   The final location for the cell tower was chosen because it would be less visible to passing motorists, Claire Dinardo, the applicant’s site acquisition specialist, told the zoning board last week.
   Using a rope and a 36-inch-diameter balloon, the applicant raised the balloon to the height of the proposed tower in both locations in order to provide a “visual idea” of what it would look like, Ms. Dinardo said.
   Township planning consultant Brian Slaugh concurred that locating it toward the middle of the property would be better. He pointed out that this portion of Route 206 is located within the King’s Highway Historic District, which begins in South Brunswick Township and ends at the intersection of Route 206 and Franklin Corner Road.
   ”They didn’t have cell towers when George Washington was running through here with his troops,” Mr. Slaugh said with a smile.
   After the Cellco Partnership completed its case and the meeting was opened up for public comment, several neighbors expressed objections and reservations about the tower.
   Peter Halbert, whose family owns a house across from the site, questioned the need for the tower because of changes in technology that could soon make the tower obsolete.
   Zoning Board of Adjustment attorney David Roskos replied that the use variance approval calls for the cell tower to be removed if its use is abandoned. He added that township officials have researched other technology, but it has not advanced to the point of replacing the current technology.
   Peter Altman, who lives on Tomlyn Drive, told the zoning board that “the tower will be an eye-sore” and that it will affect negatively property values.
   Nevertheless, the zoning board voted unanimously to approve the site plan.
   Zoning board member Leona Maffei said the board worked “very hard” to find the best solution possible. Locating the tower toward the middle of the property and disguising it as a tree were the better options presented to the board, she aid.
   Board members Stephen Brame and Charles Levine praised the Cellco Partnership for working “in good faith” to find an acceptable solution and agreeing to move the tower toward the center of the property.