HOLMDEL — Nearly a dozen township families have retained an attorney to fight a Verizon Wireless proposal to build a 140- foot-tall cell tower on Porter Farm.
The proposed tower, which could possibly be extended to 160 feet and would resemble a pine tree on the Middletown Road farm, has been debated in Holmdel since the Township Committee awarded the project to Verizon in July 2011.
This March, after Verizon had appeared before the Planning Board, the township zoning officer determined the project would require a number of variances and ordered Verizon to submit an application to the zoning board.
Greg Meese, the attorney for the applica- tion, appealed to the board to overturn that decision on Oct. 23, saying the township had drawn up the specifications for the project and owned the land it would be built on.
“The bid specs did not say go for a use variance,” Meese said.
Stuart Lieberman — the opposition attorney representing 11 families from Hasting Road, Barrier Drive and American Way — said Verizon must receive approval from “all appropriate municipal entities” before going forward.
“They don’t get a free pass because they won a bid,” Lieberman said, adding that the applicant was seeking “really severe” variances to build the tower.
“This board has to make its own independent determination. The fact of the matter is, there are many variances that have to be heard.”
The application, which also calls for the construction of a 12-foot-wide gravel driveway and a 3,600-square-foot, fenced-in compound containing an equipment shelter, would necessitate a number of setback variances, according to board professionals.
For example, the compound would be located 103 feet from the western property line and 105 feet from the southern property line, nearly 50 percent short of the mandated 200- foot setback.
When asked why Verizon chose to build the compound in the proposed spot, architect Frank Colasurdo said nearly half of the site is “unusable” due to a state stream-encroachment buffer, and the developer was further constrained by the corn farmer who previously leased the property.
The stream buffer is especially important, he said, due to the naturally occurring arsenic found in the farm’s soil.
The arsenic levels will be reported to the Freehold Soil Conservation District before any work begins, Colasurdo said, and the soil would be closely monitored and removed properly.
Middletown Road resident Catherine O’Keefe said she is concerned with the project’s potential impacts on local property values and asked if Verizon’s professionals had studied the dangers it posed to the stream, which leads into the local reservoir.
“Have you really done a complete environmental study on the arsenic, and what can happen if anything gets into that water?” she asked.
Colasurdo said that, as an architect, he was not the appropriate professional to answer O’Keefe’s questions.
Colasurdo’s credentials were another point of contention during the hearing, after he testified that the project wouldn’t impact local wetlands and instead would actually improve drainage conditions at the site.
He also testified that the tower’s backup generator would fall within legally permissible noise limits.
Lieberman protested that Colasurdo was citing other professionals’ reports in his testimony, which “can’t be cross-examined” by him or the public.
Board Chairman Demetri Orfanitopoulos ultimately directed the applicant to bring experts who could testify on arsenic, drainage and noise to future meetings.
The applicant is also seeking variances relating to the project’s proximity to residential lots and its location in a township historic district.
The next hearing for the application has been scheduled for Jan. 22.
According to Mayor Patrick Impreveduto, a bipartisan Township Committee voted unanimously to consider a cell tower years ago.
“It was revenue for the township, and most importantly, it was to improve the cell coverage for certain areas of town,” he said on Oct. 31. “There are definitely dead spots.”
Under its 2011 agreement with the township, Verizon agreed to pay Holmdel $32,000 in the first year, with a 3-percent increase over the next four years. The deal could be renewed for a maximum of 25 total years.
Additionally, the township would receive 75 percent of the rent that any additional carriers pay to use the cell tower. Verizon’s professionals testified on Oct. 23 that the tower could be extended an additional 20 feet to accommodate other providers. Space would also be allocated for antennas used by township police, public works and other departments.
While the governing body may have approved the general idea, Township Attorney Duane Davison said Verizon’s specific proposal still has to be approved by the appropriate municipal bodies.
“It was up to the developer to make any and all land-use applications in order to be able to implement the plan,” he said on Oct. 31. “The town is not participating in that application process. … It rises or falls on its own merits.”