By John Saccenti, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — The Township Planning Board approved new rules that would govern the placement of cell towers and co-located wireless equipment, Wednesday.
The draft ordinance, which prohibits the construction of new cell towers, is designed to limit the impact cellular equipment has on residential neighborhoods.
The new plan is expected to encourage the placement of cell phone equipment in or on the roofs of commercial buildings, on top of municipal buildings and on existing towers.
The draft ordinance will be submitted to the Township Council for review.
According to the ordinance, the township “is pursuing a proactive policy of requiring collocation of wireless communication antennas on existing towers, on buildings, and on new tower(s) at public site(s) which may be designated by the Township Council.”
Antennas not attached to towers and their associated equipment compound and support structure will be permitted with any commercial, industrial, professional, institutional or office structure, provided that the facility as long as it isn’t 20 feet above the highest point of the structure.
A proposed facility also must be designed so it has the least visual impact.
The plan also allows an existing communication tower’s height to be changed as long as it doesn’t go more than 12 feet higher and any wireless communications antenna to “be no higher than necessary to achieve service area requirements.”
Applicants also must agree to share use of the tower with other approved providers.
The rules also call on the township to plan for and “accommodate the growing demand for communication antennas by co-locating such new antennas on towers sited on publicly owned sites controlled or designated by the township.”
In addition, the tower will be capable of supporting at least 200 antennas which meet radio frequency requirements and can’t exceed 225 feet from grade.
The ordinance proposal also maps additional standards to antennas and towers, support structures and associated equipment compounds: No buildings shall be permitted in the equipment compound and communication equipment may be stored in cabinets; a chain-link fence or wall not less than 7 feet in height from finished grade shall be provided around each communication tower and equipment compound; access to the tower shall be through a locked gate; and the fence and supporting structures shall have a black matte finish.
According to the proposal, communication towers “shall not be artificially lighted except as required by the Federal Aviation Administration, in which case the least intrusive type of lighting permitted by the FAA shall be used. In addition, lighting within the equipment compound should not produce glare and will be designed to minimize its spillover outside the compound.
The proposal also deals with noise, and requires that none of the equipment can produce a noise level on adjoining properties that exceeds the noise level permitted by township code.
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