JACKSON — The Planning Board has approved the placement of nine more antennas on a communications monopole at 735 Herman Road near the intersection of Diana Road.
The board’s engineer, Doug Klee, said the new antennas will be placed at an 82-foot height on the 120-foot-tall monopole. There is also some ground-level equipment in a 60-foot by 40-foot compound with an 8-foot-high chain-link fence.
The board’s planner, Anna Wainright, said the site was the subject of a recent application and said there was a concern as to whether the monopole was capable of supporting additional antennas.
Attorney Richard Stanzione, representing the applicant TMobileNortheast, said T-Mobile is proposing to locate its antennas at a height of 82 feet on the existing 120-foot-tall tower. He said approval was first granted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in 1995, and American Tower Corp., the current tower owner, is searching for those permits.
Testifying on behalf of the applicant, engineer Christopher Nevill described the site as a wooded area except for the driveway that leads to the compound. All of the work will be done in the existing 60-foot-by-40-foot compound, he said.
“There is a 4-foot-by-18-foot concrete slab for the cabinet with the equipment that will be located on the southeast corner,” he said. “There are telephone and electric meters and some cable that goes to the monopole itself.”
Nevill said the nine new antennas to be added to the monopole will be at the 82-foot level and that will be the lowest location on the existing monopole. There will be no external generator, and the added antennas will bring the pole to 99 percent capacity.
Nevill said there is no change to the drainage pattern on the site, no trees will be removed, no new landscaping will be added, and no changes will be made to the fence. It is expected that T-Mobile employees will maintain the antennas and equipment every four to six weeks. Nevill said the company has complied with all relevant ordinances.
No other carriers will be permitted to place antennas on the monopole without a structural change.
No one from the public commented on the application when given the opportunity to do so.
Board members then voted to allow the additional antennas to be placed on the monopole.
— Dave Benjamin