Photo by Colleen Reynolds A new cell tower pierces the sky over the CVS/pharmacy in Wood-Ridge. It was constructed this fall, after legal rulings overturning the borough’s objections to its construction.

By Colleen Reynolds / Reporter

WOOD-RIDGE (Dec. 3, 2009, 6:25 p.m.) — A controversial 80-foot cellular communications tower has recently arisen behind the CVS/pharmacy on Valley Boulevard in Wood-Ridge, dwarfing trees and complaints, but promising to deliver enhanced cell phone reception. After a series of tussles pitting the borough against Omnipoint Communications, Inc., better known as T-Mobile, wireless technology ultimately prevailed over local zoning ordinances and quality-of-life concerns.

The telecommunications tower includes six interior antennae and is topped with blinking lights to alert aircraft arriving and departing from nearby Teterboro Airport. Due to the tower’s proximity to the airport, its proposed height was scaled down. But it still casts a long shadow.

Omnipoint presented its application for the tower to the borough in 2008. At presentations to officials, Omnipoint representatives explained it was necessary to install the tower in order to cover a “gap in coverage” caused by the low-lying topography of Valley Boulevard that frequently garbled or dropped customers’ calls, and the location near the CVS would allow the tower to meet Federal Aviation Administration height guidelines.

The Wood-Ridge Zoning Board of Adjustment unanimously denied Omnipoint’s initial application for a variance to build the tower on the commercial property at 295 Valley Blvd. Mar. 7, 2008, citing the borough’s zoning ordinances and community character. Omnipoint appealed to the Superior Court of New Jersey, which overruled the zoning board’s decision and granted the variance. In a push to reverse the Superior Court’s decision, the Wood-Ridge Mayor and Council authorized the zoning board to pay the legal fees to bring the case to the appellate division, but once again the borough was overruled.

“Unfortunately, the borough challenged it at every level of judicial ruling … but had no legal way to deny it,” Mayor Paul Sarlo lamented.

Cell towers, when granted the protection of serving a benefit to society at large, explained Borough Administrator Chris Eilert, are extraordinarily difficult to deny because of the powers of the Federal Communications Commission.

“It’s a preemption argument,” observed Borough Attorney Paul Barbire, who has represented similar cases in neighboring municipalities. “If it meets the criteria, the town is superseded.”

Because the tower’s equipment is internal, there are no plans for it to undergo an aesthetic change, such as disguising it as a tree.

In 2008, Omnipoint had presented photographs of the tower serving a dual purpose as an unusually tall flag pole with the Stars and Stripes fluttering atop. Such a large flag would have generated flapping noises and required illumination at night, which did not fly well with the public. That idea was dropped.

Additional concerns by officials and residents involve aesthetics, possible negative health effects, depreciating real estate values and whether the tower will even fully cover the gap in phone service.

Councilman Richard Carbonaro, liaison to the zoning board, expressed some of the harshest arguments against the tower. “It is a terrible situation when a bunch of stuffed suits and judges who have absolutely no interest in the wellbeing of the town or the townspeople have the legal and political clout to go against the public vote,” he wrote in an e-mail. “The CVS was an eyesore already, with its parking lot and sidewalk always littered and unswept. Now it is even a bigger eyesore.”

Several years ago, Omnipoint applied to build a cell tower on the lawn of the First Presbyterian Church of Wood-Ridge, but was denied by the borough zoning board. The difference this time, explained James Kimball, attorney to the zoning board, was that Omnipoint decided to challenge the initial denial, instead of simply accepting the rejection.

While the tower behind the CVS holds the distinction, however well received, of being the first cell tower to sprout up in Wood-Ridge, it may soon have company.

Wood-Ridge has been exploring the feasibility of erecting a cell tower on borough property near borough hall, which, officials say, would improve safety since the building does not receive adequate reception, and the police department requires good service for its equipment.

According to Barbire, the bid on that lease has been awarded to Verizon. Site details are being worked out with the Department of Environmental Protection and the FAA.