The Lakewood Zoning Board tonight is expected to debate a variance to make permanent a controversial cell phone tower on Squankum Road.
The item in question is listed as “Construction of a 145’ monopole with 12 antennas and related equipment.”
The tower went up during Covid in 2020 to accommodate heavier-than-usual data traffic, but local residents immediately decried the move and filed a letter with the Township.
In the letter signed by neighboring residents, they claim the tower is within several hundred feet of their homes, and included a screenshot of an article that mentions studies showing that close exposure to cell tower sites dramatically increases rates of cancer. The letter requests that Lakewood Township express their disapproval to the operators of the cell tower and to have them remove it promptly.
Neighboring developments include Whispering Pines, the Villas, Whispering Woods, Brook Hill, Kew Gardens and more.
You can participate in the remote meeting at at 7:00 pm by logging onto lakewoodnj.gov.
UPDATE: The debate has been postponed, reportedly due to pressure against the company.
The cell phone operator should find a different spot to plant this huge ugly and likely unsafe tower. There is a huge school with a projected enrollment of almost 1000 kids plus a large Simcha Hall bringing hundreds upon hundreds of guests every single night if the year to that immediate area. Please don’t force all these people to be exposed to this cell tower. It does not belong there!
The tower is very good for the neighborhood. It enhances our cell phone and internet service. The problem is that the antis are more vocal and organized and that gives an appearance as if the whole area is against it.
Have it in your backyard
it is
We have no problem using good old fashioned landlines. And if you need internet, there’s lots of other options.
If you want to live a life where you can “have-it-all”, then please relocate yourself. And make sure to take that cell tower to wherever you go!
In the almost 40 years since cell-phones became ubiquitous, there has been NO increase in brain cancer or other unexplained cancers among the population. In fact, there has been a decrease. You would expect that in big cities, where cell towers are placed on buildings in the center of dense populations that there would be a perceptible increase in the rates of cancer. The fact is, there is NONE. Case closed.
Besides, federal law protects cell-towers similarly to the way it protects places or worship. Towns may not place undue burdens on telecom companies when it comes to placing towers. The same way you expect neighbors to accept a shul even when it bothers them, these neighbors will have to accept a cell-tower.
A tall structure that sticks out like a sore thumb in our faces and makes an otherwise nice area look ugly is not protected by federal law. If the applicant is so demanding to get his ugly tower into that specific area, let him make something much smaller and less unseemly and try claiming federal protection. This tower makes us feel like our neighborhood just turned into a urban downtown zone.
it does NOT belong here!
You are correct that the town has the right to enforce laws that ensure that the antennas are installed in the most appealing way possible. If the company gets permission to make the antenna permanent, they will have to disguise it as an artificial tree or move it a little more out of sight. Supposed health considerations will not be taken into account.
BTW, the goyim also claim that shuls dont belong in their quiet residential neighborhoods, and that Federal law does not protect that. we always scream that federal law does apply. Dont you think that is a little hypocritical?
Lakewood has become a city with the amount of people . It’s a good place for the tower. Many cell phones in Lakewood…
Instead of arguing in the dark, did anyone actually tested with a cellular detector if the radiation levels near the tower are safe or not?
I know Cornet make cellular, microwave and WiFi detectors, but I’m sure there are other options too.
Is this the same website that everyone in Lakewood was complaining about horrible Verizon service…..?
Um, you need cell towers to obtain food service. Just sayin
I live in the neighborhood and fully support the cell towers. There is no real evidence linking cell towers to cancer and this will benefit all of us.Having good phone service can save life’s in the event of an emergency as some people dodnt own landlines anymore.