Sunday, March 20, 2011
Info from Councilwoman Nancyanne Fama's Neighborhood Update e-mail
Unfortunately, since my last email it seems that the cell tower issue on Hance Avenue is not a dead issue. Although the Turnpike Authority advised the Administration that the application was being withdrawn, T-Mobile has yet to formally do so. We will continue to monitor this very disturbing turn of events and will look to rally as many people as possible should T-Mobile continue its application before the Zoning Board. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 5, 2011 at Boro Hall.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
March 17th Meeting Cancelled
T-Mobile has cancelled the March 17th meeting. (Reason?? Who knows at this point)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
3/2/11 article from The Hub
Neighbors credit mayor for cell tower save
New site negotiated for cell tower along parkway
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
TINTON FALLS — The anxieties that surfaced at the borough’s Zoning Board meetings in recent months may soon subside since Mayor Michael Skudera has brokered a deal to move a controversial proposed cell tower.
Skudera announced last month that he reached a verbal agreement with the N.J. Turnpike Authority to change the site of the proposed T Mobile tower from the grounds of the Church of Christ at 312 Hance Ave. to a site along the Garden State Parkway in Tinton Falls.
“Basically, we’ve been working with the Turnpike Authority since last year talking about this,” Skudera said in an interview last week. “It is something that the Turnpike Authority is happy with, [and] my understanding is T-Mobile is happy with.”
Skudera said the spot that will be allocated for the tower already contains a temporary cell tower.
“It is going to relocate the tower from the church on Hance [avenue] over to an area on the parkway where there is a temporary tower that has been there for about 10 years,” he said. “They are going to make that the permanent location.”
T-Mobile first appeared in front of the borough’s Zoning Board last July at a meeting that was attended by close to 100 residents, most of whom opposed the original location.
The main concern that has been raised in recent months about putting the cell tower in a residential neighborhood is that a proper safety study has not been done about the effects of cell tower radiation.
Soon after the first hearing on the cell tower application, resident Nancy DeSimone formed a group called RACE (Residents Against Cell tower Exploitation) to oppose the proposed tower from being located in her neighborhood.
DeSimone said in an interview last week that she is relieved that the struggle might soon be coming to an end.
“We are relieved and grateful to Mayor Skudera for stepping in,” she said.
DeSimone said that her group has mentioned in the past that the parkway would be a more appropriate place for the tower.
“That was what our fight was, that this cell phone tower did not belong in a residential neighborhood and still could be moved onto the parkway to cover the area,” she said.
“He [Skudera] stepped in and reached out to the commissioner of the Turnpike Authority to say we have a temporary tower in Tinton Falls right out on the parkway, why not raise it and make it permanent,” she added.
While Skudera reached a tentative verbal agreement with all parties, he said he would still meet with the stakeholders to try to iron out a formal agreement.
Michael Laffey, an attorney hired by RACE, said that he is optimistic a resolution will be coming in the near future.
“I do not doubt what the mayor is telling me, but I don’t have confirmation yet that they have dropped the application,” he said in an interview.
“My clients are very happy that the mayor is putting the matter to rest,” he added. “This was a surprise to us; we didn’t know that the mayor was working on it.”
DeSimone was also optimistic that the end of the fight against the tower is near.
“Our attorney did say we should sit tight, we are almost there,” she said. “We are not 100 percent there, we are 90 percent there.
“We just need to hear that T-Mobile has formally withdrawn their application,” she added. “We are anxiously awaiting that good news.”
As of last week, the T-Mobile application had not been withdrawn, according to the Zoning Board Office. Skudera said that T-Mobile wants to ensure that there will be no opposition to the new proposal.
“They want to know if they are going to withdraw from the application that they have with the Zoning Board, that this new location will be all right,” Skudera said. “T-Mobile didn’t want to move until we had an agreement that we are not going to dispute the parkway area.
“What T-Mobile didn’t want was a public fight on the parkway land,” he added. “They didn’twant to go through the same thing again; that was the issue with them.”
Skudera said the Borough Council and administration have endorsed the move.
He also said that there are not a lot of other places in the borough that would work for both T-Mobile and the residents.
“It is something that gets the cell tower away from a residential zone and puts it in a better place — along the parkway — that is better suited for that,” Skudera said.
“This was an area that was best suited for a tower/ The whole area where it is [proposed] now is residential; this was the closest suitable spot on the parkway, and it fits in very nicely.”
Skudera said the parkway spot probably isn’t ideal for T-Mobile, because the carrier will lose some coverage, but he estimated that the site would still allow for about 90 percent coverage.
DeSimone said she is thankful to those who helped her oppose the cell tower.
“We are extremely grateful to Mayor Skudera, the town council, especially [Councilwoman] Nancy Fama, who was a great support to this cause,” she said. “We had some nice contributions toward RACE, and we feel that the mayor saved our house for us,” she added.
New site negotiated for cell tower along parkway
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
TINTON FALLS — The anxieties that surfaced at the borough’s Zoning Board meetings in recent months may soon subside since Mayor Michael Skudera has brokered a deal to move a controversial proposed cell tower.
Skudera announced last month that he reached a verbal agreement with the N.J. Turnpike Authority to change the site of the proposed T Mobile tower from the grounds of the Church of Christ at 312 Hance Ave. to a site along the Garden State Parkway in Tinton Falls.
“Basically, we’ve been working with the Turnpike Authority since last year talking about this,” Skudera said in an interview last week. “It is something that the Turnpike Authority is happy with, [and] my understanding is T-Mobile is happy with.”
Skudera said the spot that will be allocated for the tower already contains a temporary cell tower.
“It is going to relocate the tower from the church on Hance [avenue] over to an area on the parkway where there is a temporary tower that has been there for about 10 years,” he said. “They are going to make that the permanent location.”
T-Mobile first appeared in front of the borough’s Zoning Board last July at a meeting that was attended by close to 100 residents, most of whom opposed the original location.
The main concern that has been raised in recent months about putting the cell tower in a residential neighborhood is that a proper safety study has not been done about the effects of cell tower radiation.
Soon after the first hearing on the cell tower application, resident Nancy DeSimone formed a group called RACE (Residents Against Cell tower Exploitation) to oppose the proposed tower from being located in her neighborhood.
DeSimone said in an interview last week that she is relieved that the struggle might soon be coming to an end.
“We are relieved and grateful to Mayor Skudera for stepping in,” she said.
DeSimone said that her group has mentioned in the past that the parkway would be a more appropriate place for the tower.
“That was what our fight was, that this cell phone tower did not belong in a residential neighborhood and still could be moved onto the parkway to cover the area,” she said.
“He [Skudera] stepped in and reached out to the commissioner of the Turnpike Authority to say we have a temporary tower in Tinton Falls right out on the parkway, why not raise it and make it permanent,” she added.
While Skudera reached a tentative verbal agreement with all parties, he said he would still meet with the stakeholders to try to iron out a formal agreement.
Michael Laffey, an attorney hired by RACE, said that he is optimistic a resolution will be coming in the near future.
“I do not doubt what the mayor is telling me, but I don’t have confirmation yet that they have dropped the application,” he said in an interview.
“My clients are very happy that the mayor is putting the matter to rest,” he added. “This was a surprise to us; we didn’t know that the mayor was working on it.”
DeSimone was also optimistic that the end of the fight against the tower is near.
“Our attorney did say we should sit tight, we are almost there,” she said. “We are not 100 percent there, we are 90 percent there.
“We just need to hear that T-Mobile has formally withdrawn their application,” she added. “We are anxiously awaiting that good news.”
As of last week, the T-Mobile application had not been withdrawn, according to the Zoning Board Office. Skudera said that T-Mobile wants to ensure that there will be no opposition to the new proposal.
“They want to know if they are going to withdraw from the application that they have with the Zoning Board, that this new location will be all right,” Skudera said. “T-Mobile didn’t want to move until we had an agreement that we are not going to dispute the parkway area.
“What T-Mobile didn’t want was a public fight on the parkway land,” he added. “They didn’twant to go through the same thing again; that was the issue with them.”
Skudera said the Borough Council and administration have endorsed the move.
He also said that there are not a lot of other places in the borough that would work for both T-Mobile and the residents.
“It is something that gets the cell tower away from a residential zone and puts it in a better place — along the parkway — that is better suited for that,” Skudera said.
“This was an area that was best suited for a tower/ The whole area where it is [proposed] now is residential; this was the closest suitable spot on the parkway, and it fits in very nicely.”
Skudera said the parkway spot probably isn’t ideal for T-Mobile, because the carrier will lose some coverage, but he estimated that the site would still allow for about 90 percent coverage.
DeSimone said she is thankful to those who helped her oppose the cell tower.
“We are extremely grateful to Mayor Skudera, the town council, especially [Councilwoman] Nancy Fama, who was a great support to this cause,” she said. “We had some nice contributions toward RACE, and we feel that the mayor saved our house for us,” she added.
Murray Hill-based Bell Labs develops 2-inch cube that could replace unsightly cell towers
Tod Sizer of Little Silver, head of wireless research at Bell Labs, holds a life-sized wooden mock-up of the light radio cube he designed in front of a cell tower near his home in Little Silver. The cube is described as the future of cellular technology and has the potential to replace the giant cell phone towers currently in use
The lightRadio cube is a small antenna and radio that has shrunk the regular workings of a conventional cell phone base station and antenna and could, as soon as mid-2012, replace those unsightly cell phone towers constructed throughout the state.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Article re 2/17/11 Borough Council meeting
T-Mobile cell tower might move out of Tinton Falls neighborhood and onto the Parkway
Mayor and council unanimously agree to support proposal by Turnpike Authority to relocate tower from Riverdale section to the Parkway.
By Amy Byrnes
Residents of Hance Avenue and Riverdale Avenue East in Tinton Falls received a glimmer of hope Tuesday night that the cell tower proposed by T-Mobile to go up in their neighborhood might be packing its bags and moving.
The borough was contacted earlier in the week by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority with a proposal to replace a temporary tower on the Garden State Parkway at mile 108.3 with the T-Mobile tower, according to Borough Administrator Gerald M. Turning.
The mayor and council voted unanimously Monday night to support that proposal and present the plan to T-Mobile at a meeting next week, said Turning.
“The idea is to get that tower out of a residential area,” he said, explaining that the informal vote was to ensure the proposal had the support of the town before discussing with T-Mobile.
The wireless company filed plans to build the 120-foot tower on the property of the Monmouth Church of Christ on Hance Road in July. A site-plan expert for T-Mobile was slated to present to the board earlier in the month, which was then rescheduled for March 17.
Meg Rubinstein, who lives in the Greenbrier Falls development and has been active in protesting the proposed tower, described it as a "pine tree on steroids." The tower was initially proposed behind her development on Apple Street near Sheila Drive, she said, about 40-feet from her townhouse.
The current plan requires multiple variances for approval including setbacks modified from 500-feet to 155-feet.
Turning said that cell towers can be spotted “every 15 miles or so” along the Parkway and while it’s probably not an “ideal” location for T-Mobile, it’s a fair compromise with the borough and the residents.
Rubinstein said, "That's where it belongs, it doesn't belong in a neighborhood."
Residents living near the proposed cell tower were very active protesting its approval, even picketing in front of the church on the weekends, posting signs in their yards and hiring an attorney, according to Dale Diamond whose home is a stone's thrown from the proposed site.
He said the audience at Tuesday night's meeting gave the mayor and council a standing ovation after the vote "for their work to keep an intrusive cell tower out of a residential area where children play outside."
“(The residents) had every right to complain,” Turning said.
Mayor and council unanimously agree to support proposal by Turnpike Authority to relocate tower from Riverdale section to the Parkway.
By Amy Byrnes
Residents of Hance Avenue and Riverdale Avenue East in Tinton Falls received a glimmer of hope Tuesday night that the cell tower proposed by T-Mobile to go up in their neighborhood might be packing its bags and moving.
The borough was contacted earlier in the week by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority with a proposal to replace a temporary tower on the Garden State Parkway at mile 108.3 with the T-Mobile tower, according to Borough Administrator Gerald M. Turning.
The mayor and council voted unanimously Monday night to support that proposal and present the plan to T-Mobile at a meeting next week, said Turning.
“The idea is to get that tower out of a residential area,” he said, explaining that the informal vote was to ensure the proposal had the support of the town before discussing with T-Mobile.
The wireless company filed plans to build the 120-foot tower on the property of the Monmouth Church of Christ on Hance Road in July. A site-plan expert for T-Mobile was slated to present to the board earlier in the month, which was then rescheduled for March 17.
Meg Rubinstein, who lives in the Greenbrier Falls development and has been active in protesting the proposed tower, described it as a "pine tree on steroids." The tower was initially proposed behind her development on Apple Street near Sheila Drive, she said, about 40-feet from her townhouse.
The current plan requires multiple variances for approval including setbacks modified from 500-feet to 155-feet.
Turning said that cell towers can be spotted “every 15 miles or so” along the Parkway and while it’s probably not an “ideal” location for T-Mobile, it’s a fair compromise with the borough and the residents.
Rubinstein said, "That's where it belongs, it doesn't belong in a neighborhood."
Residents living near the proposed cell tower were very active protesting its approval, even picketing in front of the church on the weekends, posting signs in their yards and hiring an attorney, according to Dale Diamond whose home is a stone's thrown from the proposed site.
He said the audience at Tuesday night's meeting gave the mayor and council a standing ovation after the vote "for their work to keep an intrusive cell tower out of a residential area where children play outside."
“(The residents) had every right to complain,” Turning said.
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