MANALAPAN – The Township Committee will not permit a cellular communications tower to be constructed on municipal property along Cannonero Boulevard.
Speaking during the July 12 meeting of the governing body, Township Attorney Roger McLaughlin said, “The township did not suggest or offer (the property on Cannonero Boulevard) for a cell tower.
“The town has offered locations on the water tower at the Knob Hill golf course on Route 33 and at the Manalapan Community Center on Route 33. The Township Committee will not be offering (the property on) Cannonero Boulevard to Verizon Wireless or anyone else as a cell tower location,” McLaughlin said.
Cannonero Boulevard is a road leading into and out of the Four Seasons adult community from Millhurst Road.
The municipal property McLaughlin 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.
McLaughlin commented on the possibility of a cell tower being placed on Cannonero Boulevard in the wake of a June 22 meeting of the Manalapan Zoning Board of Adjustment.
On June 22, representatives of New York SMSA Limited Partnership (Verizon Wireless) were before the zoning board to continue presenting their case for the construction of a 120-foot-tall cell tower on a 5.9-acre property at 83 Millhurst Road.
Verizon Wireless requires a use variance because the proposed communications use is not permitted in Manalapan’s Rural Agricultural zoning district, which includes the property at 83 Millhurst Road.
The company’s representatives have testified that 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.
Representatives of Verizon Wireless previously ruled out the water tank at the Knob Hill golf course and residential community because it is too far away from the coverage gap at Millhurst and Woodward roads, and Main Street in the Tennent section of the community.
On June 22, Matthew Bartlett, representing the Verizon Wireless site acquisition division, said that in lieu of placing a cell tower at 83 Millhurst Road, municipal officials – he did not provide a name – had asked the company to consider two other locations: the Manalapan Community Center on Route 33 just east of Millhurst Road, and the 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.
David Stern, a radio frequency engineer who represents Verizon Wireless, said that according to a review he conducted, the construction of a cell tower on Cannonero Boulevard and the placement of antennas on an existing cell tower at the municipal building on Route 522 could fill most of the coverage gap the company is attempting to address.
Bartlett said the members of the Township Committee might discuss the Cannonero Boulevard site on July 12.
However, no such discussion occurred and McLaughlin made it clear that the governing body will not permit the construction of a cell tower on Cannonero Boulevard.
Representatives of Verizon Wireless are expected to return before the zoning board on Aug. 7 to continue presenting their case for the cell tower at 83 Millhurst Road.
