MANALAPAN – A professional testifying on behalf of Verizon Wireless said there are no environmental constraints that would prevent a cellular communications tower from being constructed on a residential property at 83 Millhurst Road in Manalapan.
A second professional said there would be “no reasonable value impact” on neighboring properties if a cell tower is built in the rural neighborhood.
Environmental consultant Christohper Lanna and real estate appraiser Mark Tinder testified during the June 22 meeting of the Manalapan Zoning Board of Adjustment as representatives of Verizon Wireless continued to seek a use variance that would permit the company to construct a cell tower in a residential zone.
The zoning board did not make a decision that evening. Testimony on the application may resume on Aug. 7.
New York SMSA Limited Partnership (Verizon Wireless) has filed an application seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval in order to construct a 120-foot-tall monopole with 12 antennas mounted on a platform. The monopole would sit in the center of a 50-foot by 50-foot equipment compound Verizon Wireless would construct on the 5.9-acre property.
Verizon Wireless requires a use variance because the proposed communications use is not permitted in Manalapan’s Rural Agricultural zoning district.
During previous testimony, radio frequency engineer David Stern said the goal of the project is to better serve an area along Main Street and Woodward Road; on Millhurst Road north and south of Main Street; and in new residential developments south of Main Street and Woodward Road.
Under questioning from attorney Lynne Dunn, representing Verizon Wireless, Lanna said tests for previous pesticide use at 83 Millhurst Road came back with negative results. He said a small area of wetlands on the property would not be disturbed by the construction of the tower or the equipment compound.
Attorney Robert Munoz, who represents resident Jack Eisner, questioned Lanna about various aspects of the environmental investigation. Certain information was not immediately available for presentation in response to Munoz’s questions.
During his testimony, Tinder described the neighborhood surrounding 83 Millhurst Road as a low density rural residential area with farmland, a few commercial uses, several residences and the nearby Wemrock Brook School.
He said the three closest homes would be 430 feet, 470 fee and 525 feet from the monopole. Tinder describe the cell tower as a passive use that would not bring any odors, light, noise or traffic to the neighborhood. He said there would not be any significant change in the area’s topography or vegetation.
Tinder said he concluded that if a nearby property owner wanted to sell his home and/or property, there might be buyers who would want to purchase a home near a cell tower at a lower price than what the owner was asking, but that judging by data from other locations, the difference in the asking price and the eventual sale price would not produce a significant or measurable impact.
He said the type of uses that would have a negative impact on nearby properties if municipal officials ever permitted those uses to be established in the Millhurst Road neighborhood would be a convenience store or a gas station.
One new aspect of the case that was made public during the June 22 hearing was detailed by Matthew Bartlett, representing the Verizon Wireless site acquisition division.
Bartlett said that in lieu of placing a cell tower at 83 Millhurst Road, municipal officials asked the company to consider two other locations: the Manalapan Community Center on Route 33 just east of Millhurst Road, and a municipal property along Cannonero Boulevard, north of Route 33 and off Millhurst Road.
Bartlett said the Manalapan Community Center property is within a buffer zone of Monmouth Battlefield State Park and would not be approved as the site for a cell tower by the State Historic Preservation Office.
In addition, he said the community center site is too close to an existing Verizon Wireless cell tower on Sweetmans Lane. He said the proximity of two towers would result in negative technical issues.
Cannonero Boulevard is a road leading into and out of the Four Seasons adult community. The municipal property Bartlett referenced is adjacent to a 100-acre tract that has been the subject of discussion regarding a possible residential and commercial development known as Manalapan Crossing.
Bartlett told zoning board members the Township Committee may discuss the Cannonero Boulevard site at its meeting on July 12.
Stern, the radio frequency professional, said if Verizon Wireless was permitted to construct a 125-foot-tall tower on Cannonero Boulevard (5 feet higher than the proposed tower at 83 Millhurst Road) and permitted to place antennas on the municipal tower at town hall (not currently proposed), that combination of facilities “would fill a majority of the gap” in the Millhurst Road, Main Street and Woodward Road area.
“We felt (Cannonero Boulevard) would be a good location for us. The ball is back in the township’s court,” Stern said.
