JACKSON — The applicant who proposed the construction of a cellular communications tower near a residential area and Interstate 195 has withdrawn the application, leaving Jackson residents to call the move a victory for the community.
“The process worked,” resident Bradley Gagnon said. “When you look at the law and make an argument in front of the zoning board, the side with the better argument is going to win.”
Wireless Edge Towers withdrew the application during the Aug. 7 meeting of the zoning board. The applicant was seeking nine variances and had been in front of the board since December.
Residents objected to the cell tower and said its construction could have a negative impact on property values and put the safety of residents along Eltone Road and the nearby Four Seasons at Metedeconk Lakes community in jeopardy.
The application called for the cell tower to be built on a heavily wooded piece of municipal property just off Exit 22 on the westbound side of Interstate 195.
The tract’s proximity to a number of residential properties along Eltone Road concerned residents in the area. Gagnon said he believed his home would be the closest residence to the 120-foot-tall tower.
And, according to Gagnon, that figure did not take additional radio antennas and a lightning rod into account. These could have potentially put the tower’s actual height at 130 feet, he said.
According to Gagnon, that 10-foot disparity would have impacted the tower’s required safety calculations because Jackson’s municipal code requires that there be a 150 percent fall zone radius in the event of a structural failure.
At the 120-foot height, the safety radius would be 180 feet. However, at the 130- foot height, the safety radius would be 195 feet. Gagnon said his home would be about 193 feet away from the cell tower.
A variance for the cell tower’s fall zone radius was one of the nine variance requests placed before the zoning board. The application also sought a conditional use variance due to the tower’s location in an R-1 residential zone, where cell towers are not permitted.
In an attempt to be proactive, the residents proposed two alternate locations for the cell tower. One location was at the Jackson Township Municipal Utilities Authority water treatment site off Hyson Road, which already has two cell towers on the property. The second location was the Vista Center, which is more than 100 acres of open space.
As a result of the pushback from residents, representatives of Wireless Edge agreed to look for other sites for the cell tower.
When the company failed to re-notify neighboring residents about the Aug. 7 meeting, zoning board attorney Sean Gertner suggested that the board would move to postpone the public hearing again.
However, at the beginning of the Aug. 7 meeting it was announced that the cell tower application had been withdrawn and the matter was concluded.
Gagnon said he and his neighbors were relieved to hear that announcement.
“Oftentimes it is the little guy going up against the big guy, David and Goliath, but in this situation it seems like the little guy won,” he said. “It’s a victory … I have been getting calls about it all day.”
Contact Andrew Martins at [email protected].