The approval in May of a cell tower to be placed on top of an existing PSE&G electric pole southeast of the intersection of Penn Lyle Road and Cedar Street prompted residents to urge the Township Council to make changes to the ordinance to prevent the issue from occurring again.
Residents approached the council during the August 3 meeting, seeking to ban cell towers in all residential zones as well as imposing a moratorium on any current proposed applications in residential zones until the matter is reviewed and acted upon with regard to zoning for residential districts. However, township officials, including township attorney Michael Herbert, are arguing against it. They also say that imposing a moratorium is not permitted by state Municipal Land Use Law.
Herbert says that West Windsor’s ordinance conforms with the 1996 Federal Communications Act and court decisions dealing with towers. The ordinance allows for co-location of antennas on existing towers to reduce the need for entirely new towers to be built. The cell towers are a conditional use in all zones, and the ordinance seeks to co-locate antennas on existing towers.
“We have also received e-mails from residents stating that they wish to have setback requirements reviewed – for a 600-foot setback in residential zones,” wrote Herbert in a memo to council. “Such setbacks may be found in several municipal ordinances, but may be illegal if they cannot be rationally related to the activity — here, the cell tower. Specifically, the 600-foot setback requirement would need to have a planning and scientific foundation. In our representation of several municipalities and land use boards, we have yet to see any scientific or planning foundation for such a large setback.”
Herbert did say that a ban of cell towers in residential zones can be imposes, but if the ban is put into effect, the telecommunications provider can apply for a use variance to the Zoning Board if it can prove there is a gap in coverage, Herbert said.
“West Windsor Township has extensive residentially-zoned areas, and it is conceivable that gaps in coverage could be proven,” Herbert wrote. “An applicant would then have the ability to place their facilities where they wanted, pursuant to the Telecommunications Act without being restricted to existing towers. We believe that the Township’s current zoning scheme that makes these facilities a conditional use enables the municipality to better regulate where the facilities will be placed. This includes placing the facilities on municipally-owned property, co-locating where possible.” Herbert said he believes that the current township ordinance should be kept in place with the possibility that reasonable setback requirements be implemented.
The issue that prompted the discussion was the approval of a T Mobile wireless communications facility on an existing electricity transmission tower, which officials said handcuffed the Planning Board because it complied with local ordinance. T-Mobile’s facility will consist of nine wireless communications antennas attached to a tower insert installed within the existing 111-foot tower, and extending 6.5 feet above.
