UPDATE New Jersey beach town, Lavallette, has worked to exert some authority over 5G development within its borders. Applicant, Verizon, says it has navigated through the requirements imposed by the town and would like to install small cell units at six new locations. As the Lavallette-Seaside Shorebeat reports, at its most recent meeting, the Planning Board declined to issue its approval, saying that there were outstanding issues that needed to be addressed before Verizon could be given a go ahead.
Verizon’s request features placing 5G nodes or “caps” atop telephone poles. “Every antenna is proposed as brown and all of the cabinets are proposed as gray,” said attorney Edward Purcell, speaking on behalf of Verizon. “All of the equipment on all of the new poles has the same height and the same camouflaging.” The units can relay both 4G and 5G signals. Purcell added that Verizon would be open to colocation, though it would mean that the poles would have to be taller.
One of the issues identified by the Board involves a questionable address. Verizon has asked to place a unit at 2201 Baltimore Avenue, an address that does not truly exist. The actual placement would be across the street on Elizabeth Avenue, which would put it in a residential neighborhood. “Nobody from Elizabeth Avenue knows this is going in front of their house, and that is wrong,” said board member Joanne Filippone.
Filippone also objected to the appearance of the poles, saying, “They’re going higher and higher, uglier and uglier, and now you want to paint them brown when the poles are really a driftwood color. Other companies are providing 5G services in Lavallette without any of this ugly stuff. Why come into my community and make it ugly?”
Questions were also fielded by an unnamed RF engineer, who provided explanations regarding the height of the proposed towers, and the way that the signals are transmitted. In response to the aesthetic and technical queries, the board’s planner, engineer, and board members asked for visual renderings and simulated photographs of the newest units, their placement on the poles, and what they would look like in situ. The board also asked Verizon to correct the errant address.
A ticking “shot clock” gives Lavallette two months to reach a decision or issue a permit. The Board will reconvene at the end of October to discuss the matter further, according to the Shorebeat.
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