Omnipoint proposal for Route 130 location
By: Frank C. D’Amico
WASHINGTON — The public next month will have an opportunity to address the Zoning Board of Adjustment regarding Omnipoint Communications’ plan to construct a 122.5-foot monopole tower on the south side of Route 130 near the intersection with Woodside Road.
Omnipoint also wants to construct a 24-foot by 15-foot equipment compound at the base of the tower. The proposed site is on the 7-acre Universal Processing Equipment (UPE) property near the Crestwood Acres and Beechwood Acres residential developments.
The most recent zoning board meeting regarding the proposal was continued to June 15.
At the May 18 meeting, Omnipoint attorney Kerry Flowers cross-examined Robert Heffernan, a real estate appraiser hired by the board.
Mr. Heffernan, at a previous meeting regarding this application, presented a report he and two associates did concerning residential properties near cellular towers.
By comparing houses in the same area, one with a view of the tower and one without, they determined the tower view had a negative impact on the house’s initial sales value.
One board member, L. Ellis Cardaneo asked Mr. Heffernan why he didn’t study the effect a tower had on an existing community. The Heffernan report examined neighborhoods that were built after a tower was in place.
Mr. Heffernan said finding the type of neighborhood Mr. Cardaneo wanted would have been difficult. He said he would have to find an instance where a house was sold right before a tower was built and then sold immediately after the tower was built.
Mr. Flowers said Mr. Heffernan and his associates “made errors of omission” by not studying Washington Township and cellular towers.
The Heffernan report focused on communities in northwestern New Jersey and was not written specifically for the Omnipoint application.
“We were hired only three weeks before we were to appear before the board,” Mr. Heffernan said.
Mr. Flowers said the towers in the report were larger than the proposed Omnipoint facility. Mr. Heffernan said anything above the tree line would detract from the neighborhood.
Omnipoint had a real estate appraiser, Michael J. Samuels, testify on its behalf. He said he found “errors in the (Heffernan) report’s methodology.”
Mr. Samuels said the paired houses in the study were too dissimilar to make accurate analyses whether a tower affected the sales price. He added the proposed Omnipoint tower would affect four properties.
The Omnipoint portion of the June 21 meeting will begin with public comment.
Then it will be followed by closing arguments and summation, first by Leo Zamparelli, attorney hired by Crestwood Acres Homeowners Association, and Mr. Flowers.