Will this project leave Upper Esternay field in usable condition?

Oh, let's all bend over backwards and rip up playgrounds so T-Mobile can fill in their spotty service map. What a joke. I was just on that playground the other day and thought, wow, this is a nice place for a playground way up here on the hill. So it figures Chatham will now give rights to someone to come in and ruin it. All for $3K a month? Way to prostitute your public and open space Chatham Township.

A stunning and revealing decision about the priorities of the people who claim to be acting in the public's best interest. A cell tower at a playground? Don't the members of the committee all own nice homes with nice yards that can accomodate a "temporary" tower? Why stick it to the kids who won't get a dime of the kickback money?

I wish there was a "Like" buttom for the comments made by Ducan Munchkin and TCG. Great headline: “Township Trades Playground for Cell Tower and $3,100 a Month – Families Screwed!!” This is an abominable outcome, to put this tower in place of the Esternay playground. The Town lawyer thinks this is a good idea? Wow, how as a citizen can you work to get a new town lawyer if that’s his brilliant value-add to all of this? I sure hope that Laura, Kathy and Robert don’t let the Township down by voting for this. Bailey and Nicole are sure to go for the fast buck sell-out. Laura, Kathy, Robert please, please, do the right thing, not the most profitable. Please put people ahead of money - I greatly respect your efforts and have faith that you won't let the good citizens of the Township down.

Attention: Richard Templin! You should jump on this as it is a very important issue for the upcoming election. I know that I would certainly vote for, and encourage all of my many friends in the Township to vote for the candidate that puts Township families and our children ahead of Cell Towers and T-Mobil payoffs. This has the potential of being a very big issue in the coming November election!!

I don't understand why our Township Committee feels the need to accomodate every cell tower request. If Sprint has a gap to resolve, do we need to accomodate one of their cell towers? No one has an expectation of infallible cell service. There are numerous dropped locations in Chatham Township and surrounding towns, including the Township Municipal Bldg. Why do we bow to every request! And do you really believe we will ever see that playground again! Why would T-Mobile pay to construct a replacement tower just so they can pay to deconstruct and put a new one on the PSE&G monopoles! And what power are we going to have to get them to take it down once it's up. None!!! Don't fool yourself. This is T-Mobile's effort to expand their coverage and the pole is not coming down once it's up.

Myself as a Chatham Twp resident I would like to run against these folks I feel like pure negligence is being used. Why should a playground be sacrificed for a cell phone tower? The kids need somewhere to play and interact. There is 9.4 square miles in the TWP something can get done. Our kids should be first, cell phones do not matter when it comes to the children. I would like to challenge the committee for a seat one day as a man who understands every day life and who knows the citizens come first- Andrew

It is a temorary tower. Take your kids to castle park or another playground. Get a life.

"Temporary" LOL T-Mobil can feel glad that there is at least ONE naive Kool Aid drinker in the township. There's alwasys one in a crowd, the person who stands up for things like errecting a cell tower that eliminates a playground for our children and families.

If you want to learn the truth about cell towers, there is a wealth of free information available at Anticelltowerlawyers.com. Go to their pages entitled "questions and answers" and "links." You don't necessarily need lawyers to fight towers, but the free information they provide is invaluable in helping anyone fight the irresponsible placement of cell towers, especially in close proximity to children.

Just to be clear - do you really think we are just talking about just ripping up a playground? How are they going to get all that heavy equipment up that hill without ruining the adjacent field? We already have a hard enough time allocating field space between the sports. Are we really going to make Upper Esternay unusable with the construction of this tower?

Great point Lisa! All, it sounds like the destruction of the Esternay playground, etc. will be again discussed (put to a vote?) this Thursay night (9/27). I'm out of town or I'd go to the Township Committee meeting. It would be great for all concerned residents, especially parents, to reach out to the Township Committee members ahead of the meeting, especially Laura, Kathy and Bob. I'd like to think that Bailey and Nicole will likewise put our children and families ahead of T Mobile and Cell Towers, but I am much less optimistic. For the sake of all the families and children of Chatham Township, thank goodness that Laura, Kathy and Bob are on the Committee!! Please let your voices be heard!

Stacey Ewald wrote an excellent, informative letter that Editor Laura Silius kindly posted on "The Patch" today (9/26/12), regarding Chatham Township families/children and playgorunds vs. T Mobile 150 foot cell towers. I encourage all to read it.

All concerned Township residents should go to today's "Patch" posting http://chatham.patch.com/articles/over-objections-cell-tower-goes-to-bid and read Laura Silvius' excellent and very timely/real time write-up of last night's Township Committee meeting and the shocking Cell Tower vote result, to read who the winners, losers, heros and villians are (spoiler alert: One may surprise some of you, she did me)

The previous site would have worked. Why rip up the playground where my little boy plays. And a cell tower right next to the soccer field where my daughter plays soccer? Hidden up in the back was a much better place for the tower. I'm wondering how river road residents feel now afte mucking around. You may think you were helping out the resale value of your own house...but now you're really going to see the tower on Esternay field. Instead of a tower by what is already an existing the PSE&G electric tower ... we'll have a cell phone tower on top of a soccer field clearly visible by everyone.

Hey, Chatham folks. This has nothing to do with your cell tower issue (although our community had the same issue a few years back). Did the Chatham Day School complete their renovations and if so, has there been any deterioration in the traffic patterns in your community as a result? Just curious since the same traffic "expert" is testifying in my community and it appears that all of her testimony never indicates that there will be worse traffic conditions following construction. True or not? I appreciate the efforts of any of you who take the time to respond. Thanks!