Residents living in Saratoga Farms are going to have to wait a couple more months to find out the fate of a proposed cell phone tower located near their development.
The Mt. Laurel zoning board has extended the application from AT&T to put up 140-foot faux farm silo to serve as a cell phone tower to Dec. 31. The public hearing, originally scheduled for Oct. 1, has been rescheduled for the Dec. 3 planning board meeting.
The proposed tower would be located on a farm behind Pimlico Way, coming as close to 100 feet of some homes. The application has caused concern among numerous residents in the area, many of whom teamed up to form an opposition group. The Facebook group “No Cell Tower in Saratoga Farms” now has more than 100 members.
Louis Rider has been one of the residents taking the lead with the opposition group. He was originally concerned about the public hearing being rescheduled for November, a time when many residents would be unable to voice their concerns.
“That week in New Jersey is one of the biggest vacation weeks because three of the five days, schools are closed,” Rider said. “We already know there is going to be quite a few people that won’t be able to speak out.”
Rider said he contacted township officials prior to the meeting to get the public hearing scheduled for December, so residents would at least be able to come out in large numbers.
“My fear is they know they would have reduced opposition in November. They know they would have less opposition,” he said.
AT&T originally filed the silo application in May. This gave the zoning board a period of six months to act. The original deadline for action was Sept. 1.
AT&T has requested cancellation of the public hearing multiple times. The last two public hearings were scheduled for Aug. 6 and Oct. 1.
The constant cancellations have become a nuisance for the opposition group. A large group of residents came out to the Aug. 6 meeting, only to hear AT&T’s request to push the public hearing back two months had been granted.
At the Oct. 1 meeting, only Rider and fellow resident Brian Thompson attended, having known the application was going to be postponed.
Rider believes AT&T is pushing back the public hearing in hopes fewer residents will be interested in protesting its application.
“The feeling is they will consistently postpone the hearing, because if they keep doing that, the opposition will quiet down,” he said.
Christopher Quinn, the attorney representing AT&T, could not be reached for comment.
AT&T filed the application for the silo in May. The application states it wishes to put in the silo to improve the lack of adequate coverage in the area.
“Without the proposed site, AT&T is unable to provide coverage in the area, which it is mandated to do pursuant to its FCC license,” the applications reads.
Rider and other residents are proposing for AT&T to consider alternatives to the silo. They include putting antennas on the power lines running behind the development and relocating the silo to open space in the area, away from residential developments.
In talking to residents in the neighborhood, Rider said many have not forgotten about the tower. Many residents in the opposition group are still planning to attend the hearing. Rider’s hope is to get at least 50 residents to attend and fill the municipal courtroom.
