Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Co-Lo - North Jersey News

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:23:08 -0500

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Deal ends suit over Wyckoff cell tower
Sunday, December 15, 2002
By BRIAN ABERBACK
Staff Writer

WYCKOFF - Verizon communications company will get to build a cell tower along Route 208 north, but must help the town reimburse the legal fees of residents who challenged the project, according to a settlement reached last week.

Seventeen residents who live on and around Cedar Hill Avenue sued the township in February, arguing that its ordinance governing cell towers failed to promote their welfare as required by municipal land-use laws.

The residents said the tower, which will be built on a township-owned, wooded tract of 2.7 acres just south of the Cedar Hill Avenue exit, would be aesthetically damaging, pose a safety risk, and disturb their quality of life.

The case was to have gone to trial Dec. 3.

"Our group felt very strongly that there was no question we were going to win this first round," said Anita Skolnick, one of the residents who sued. Skolnick, acting as the residents' spokeswoman, said the group agreed to settle because it wouldn't be able to afford likely appeals by Verizon if the courts ruled in their favor.

"It really came down to David [fighting] Goliath," Skolnick said. "In recognizing that, we felt we would go into settlement talks with them."

Verizon says it needs the tower to close coverage gaps in its service. Nextel, Sprint, and Omnipoint also plan to use the pole.

The agreement calls for the township to pay the residents $15,500 for legal fees from the lease money it will receive from the carriers. The carriers, which will pay the township about $100,000 per year to use its land, will pay the town an additional $27,000 in rent this year. That money will also go to the residents.

The cell tower will be 140 feet, 10 feet less than originally proposed. The agreement also eliminates an 8-foot lightning rod that was to have topped off the tower. Township Attorney Robert Landel said the lack of a lightning rod won't be a safety hazard. It's not known when construction will begin.

Skolnick said about 130 residents contributed a total of about $50,000 in attorney's fees to fight the tower.

"Obviously, I'm glad I can repay all the people who contributed," Skolnick said.

The tower will be camouflaged as an evergreen tree, but Skolnick said it would still diminish the aesthetics of her neighborhood.

The pole will be within 50 to 200 feet of nine homes, which residents said would be a safety risk if it ever fell.

"We're still very concerned about safety issues," Skolnick said. "I don't think the town is representing what's in the best interest of its constituents."

Township Attorney Robert Landel said Wyckoff is looking out for residents.

"There's always the possibility that if this doesn't go up, the carriers will take it to another location that would have a substantial negative impact," Landel said.

For example, he said, Verizon might have tried to erect a pole on a nearby Department of Transportation parcel, where the township would have had no say about its height or appearance.

Skolnick said the township cell tower ordinance that permits Verizon to build at Route 208 and Cedar Hill Avenue is flawed because it has insufficient setback requirements and no height restriction. She said the residents' attorney, Michael Stein, was given assurance that the Township Committee would revisit the ordinance.

Landel said Wyckoff has been reviewing the ordinance since the litigation began. However, he said, there is "no verbal or written agreement to modify it."

Brian Aberback's e-mail address is [email-masked]

5985625

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