Politics & Government
Residents Fill Zoning Board Hearing on Cell Antennas
At least one concerned neighbor brought attorney.
About 50 people filled Thursday night's Chatham Township zoning board meeting room beyond capacity to hear initial testimony on an application by AT&T to install 12 antennas on a 105-foot water tank in a residential neighborhood.
Engineers gave a brief overview of the proposed project, which calls for installing 12 panel antennas around an existing American Water tank on Buxton Road.
Yvan Joseph, radio frequency engineer with Black & Veatch, said the antenna panels would not go above the existing height of the water tank, and only need to be above the tree line to work. He said AT&T is working to improve reception in the area, including along River Road, and always aims to install antennas on existing structures instead of building a new one.
He stressed that the project only calls for cell antennas, not a cell tower.
More extensive testimony is planned at the Dec. 19 meeting.
Residents have posted signs, circulated emails and in at least one case hired a lawyer, Robert Simon, to oppose the proposal. Simon was assured during the meeting he would have an opportunity to cross-examine AT&T's witnesses at the next meeting.
Neighbors say the antennas would hurt property values and don't belong where residents, including children, live within a few hundred feet.
The proposal also calls for placing related equipment at the base of the tank on a concrete pad."
The company first needs the following variances from the township Zoning Board of Adjustment:
- Use variance
- Height variance
- Front, rear and side yard setback variance
- Minimum fence height variance
- Minimum distance from a residential district variance
- Preliminary and final major site plan approval
"The site in question is not municipal property, nor is it abutted by municipal property, but rather a residential neighborhood, with 10 homes including over 25 children less than a few hundred feet away and hundreds more large families as the radius is expanded," she wrote. "The board is expected to act in the best interest of the town and its residents and must protect both from commercial endeavors that can affect residential property values ... and the health of its citizens. This motion does not have a place in a residential neighborhood."
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