EAST BRUNSWICK — Several dozen residents of Willis Court and Timber Road proposed alternate sites for the construction of a cell tower slated to be built near their homes.
David Stern, a veteran radio frequency engineer who testified as an expert witness on behalf of Verizon Wireless at the May 29 meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, said the decision to place the cell tower at 107 Dunhams Corner Road — between two residential streets — had been a decade in the making.
“Years of effort have gone into this particular site,” he said. “This is a known trouble area, and we’re trying to fill it.”
Verizon Wireless is seeking the board’s approval to construct a 120-foot-tall monopole.
Stern presented coverage maps showing that the approximately 10 cell towers in East Brunswick do not provide sufficient coverage to an area of roughly a mile by a mile and a half that stretches from the intersection of Dunhams Corner Road and Cranbury Road — near East Brunswick High School — westward to a section of the New Jersey Turnpike between Milltown Road and Dunhams Corner Road.
The proposed tower would cover about 50 percent of that gap, he said. Covering the remaining 50 percent would require the construction of a second tower that would, upon approval, be built near the intersection of Dutch Road and the New Jersey Turnpike.
The proposed plan was met with strong opposition by residents when it was introduced at the April 28 meeting of the zoning board. As a result, Stern returned to the hearing on May 29 with coverage maps showing how other locations might impact the so-called coverage gap.
The first location — mounted on a public safety tower near the municipal complex on Ryders Lane — would cover roughly three-quarters of the area that the proposed tower on Dunhams Corner Road would, Stern said. An application to co-locate an antenna on that tower had been denied in the past, he added.
The second location would require the construction of a 140-foot tower at the VFW building at 485 Cranbury Road. This would cover 90 percent of the area of the tower’s coverage area.
“It doesn’t quite get to Ryders Lane where the proposed location does, but it gets me the additional coverage I’m looking for at the high school, as well as up and down Cranbury Road and most of Dunhams Corner,” Stern said.
Tommy Coohill, commander of VFW Post 133, said no representatives from Verizon Wireless or any other provider had approached the post about potential construction on its property.
“We haven’t heard anything about it,” Coohill said. “But we would consider it, absolutely. … A lot of nonprofit organizations are fortunate enough, if they have the property, to be able to put [cell towers] in. It would be something, I’m sure, that we would discuss and probably go along with if the opportunity occurred.”
Before construction could begin at the municipal site or the VFW, Verizon Wireless would need the same variance being sought under the current proposal, according to Verizon Wireless attorney Gregory Meese. The variance is needed because a township ordinance does not permit cell towers to be built within 1,000 feet of a residence,
Willis Court resident Jerry Helfant listed about a dozen other commercial properties that he said could benefit from the increased revenue a cell tower would provide. He asked whether Stern had inquired with the business owners about their willingness to host a tower on their properties.
Stern replied that he had not contacted the owners of the commercial properties on Helfant’s list, and explained that most of the properties would not adequately address the coverage gap.
Placing a tower in a residential area would set a precedent in the township, according to zoning board member John Mennella.
“We’re charged with the responsibility to think not only about what we do today, but what it’s going to look like a couple of years down the road,” Mennella said. “What is East Brunswick going to look like as a consequence of Verizon putting more of these towers in town?”
Just as the zoning board is charged with protecting the future of the township, Meese said the representatives of Verizon Wireless are charged with protecting the future of the telecommunications corporation.
“We’re planning for the future. These sites are necessary for the future growth that’s very clearly depicted here. Verizon Wireless has to maintain a network that’s going to be able to handle the need [of its subscribers]. We’re here to plan for what we know is coming in the future,” he said.
Embracing new technology and staying ahead of the curve is important, Meese said.
“But the fact is that we’re putting towers in people’s backyards,” he added.
The next public hearing on the proposed cell tower will take place at 8 p.m. June 9.