By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – The method that the Freehold Township Planning Board has of voting on applications and the number of votes required to grant a variance means an application submitted by Verizon Wireless to build a cellular communications tower on Route 537 still has a slim chance to gain approval.
At a July 7 meeting, members of the board commented on the plan submitted by New York SMSA Limited Partnership (Verizon Wireless), which is seeking a use variance that would permit the company to install a 120-foot-tall monopole cell tower at 363 Monmouth Road (Route 537), Freehold Township.
The 6.3-acre parcel is an undeveloped wooded lot with a clearing in the middle of the tract where the monopole would be placed. The property is in the vicinity of open space parcels, YMCA Camp Topanemus and residences.
A wireless communications facility is not permitted in the R-80 residential zone where Verizon Wireless wants to place the cell tower in order to fill a gap in coverage in this area of Freehold Township and neighboring Millstone Township. The application proposes the construction of a fenced-in compound that would contain the cell tower and an equipment shelter, according to previous testimony.
Four members of the Planning Board recused themselves from hearing the Verizon application: Chairman Rich Gotto, Township Committeeman Anthony Ammiano, Township Committeeman Thomas Cook and Rob Kash.
The application was heard by Patrick Coburn, Ronald Kirk, Robert Shortmeyer, Leon Bruno Jr., Kevin Asadi, Apryl Kurtz and John Bazzurro.
Asadi said the technical testimony presented by the applicant’s professionals was not rebutted by objectors. He said he did not see a land use detriment to permitting the tower, although he said, “I understand there is a stigma” with a cell tower and that neighbors’ objections were “fueled by that stigma.”
Kurtz said she was concerned that the applicant did not appear to have sought out other properties in the area as a location for the monopole.
“In my mind, (Verizon) did not want to go to Millstone Township for a variance. It seems like they want to be in Freehold Township,” she said.
Bazzurro, who chaired the board in Gatto’s absence, reviewed the positive and negative criteria in regard to the granting of a variance. He said that based upon the agreement between the applicant’s professionals and the board’s telecommunications professional, the board “must conclude there is a gap in coverage.”
However, Bazzurro expressed concern regarding federal regulations that would permit a second company – called a co-locator – to place antennas on the Verizon monopole and make other changes at the site without planning or zoning input from Freehold Township.
The changes could include increasing the height of the tower from 128 feet (including an 8-foot lightning rod) to 148 feet. Bazzurro called this possible outcome “the unintended consequences of federal regulations.”
Bazzurro said he found that the site is suitable and that the area does not contain a high density of homes. The property at 363 Monmouth Road is bordered by land that cannot be developed, and that due to the existing conditions on the property, there is not a need for significant clearing of the site.
However, he said he found that the monopole would violate several sections of Freehold Township’s zone plan and that the visual impact would violate a township ordinance.
“It is not hard to see a substantial detriment to the public good and an erosion of the nature of the zone plan,” Bazzurro said.
According to the board’s procedures at the conclusion of an application, a motion may be made to direct the board’s attorney to prepare a positive (approval) or negative (denial) resolution. The vote on the direction to the attorney is not a vote on the application itself and a board member may change his or her vote when the resolution is presented at a future meeting.
Shortmeyer made a motion to have the board’s attorney, Frank Accisano, prepare a positive resolution on the Verizon Wireless application. Bruno seconded the motion. Shortmeyer, Bruno, Asadi and Coburn voted yes. Bazzurro, Kurtz and Kirk voted no.
The motion carried 4-3 and Accisano will prepare a resolution granting approval to the application. The resolution will be voted on at the board’s Aug. 4 meeting.
However, the granting of the type of variance Verizon is seeking requires five affirmative votes, so if the seven board members vote on Aug. 4 as they did on July 7, the resolution permitting the construction of the monopole will not be approved.
The application will be approved if Shortmeyer, Bruno, Asadi and Coburn vote yes as they did on July 7 and if either Bazzurro, Kurtz or Kirk change their no vote to a yes vote.
Verizon Wireless has legal action pending against Freehold Township for a 2015 denial of a cellular communications tower at 391 Monmouth Road (Route 537).
