Belmar’s Mayor and Council Push Back Against Verizon

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UPDATE Under the New Jersey shore town’s previous administration, Verizon was approved to install streetlight small cell units along Belmar’s boardwalk. However, as TapInto.net reports, new Mayor Gerald Buccafusco and his borough council decided at a meeting on Tuesday they are jockeying to block Verizon’s small cell efforts. To that end, they have hired telecommunications attorney Peter Lupo to help plan a strategy against the telecom provider.

Buccafusco stated that this move will “level the playing field.” He added, “I think this will give us a tremendous boost in dealing with Verizon because now we have someone on their level, who knows the law and has access to experts…Who will be fighting for us, if Verizon comes back to us regarding any poles.” 

Verizon has yet to respond, but the plans on paper would allow the company to start the wireless small cell installation later this summer, according to TapInto.net. The agreement on record would see the installation of approximately 20 small cell poles along the length of the boardwalk providing both light and connectivity. Verizon would pay for the 35-foot tall poles, ongoing electricity, maintenance, and repair of the streetlights would become the borough’s responsibility. 

On the advice of attorney Lupo, the borough quickly worked to bolster borough ordinances that mention right-of-way requirements. According to Buccafusco, adhering to Ordinance 2023-09 and Chapters 43 and 43A will force Verizon to submit to county oversight before being allowed to move on to borough matters. He said that he believes that the extra red tape will buy Belmar more time to put measures in place to keep Verizon off their boardwalk.

“Those are the… things that make me more optimistic tonight,” the Mayor told TapInto.net. “We have time to do things, we have an expert who may actually appear here at some point to give us a presentation as we move along, and then finally we’ve put an ordinance in place that’s going to protect us more than the current ones do,” he said, adding “So I’m very optimistic, and we’ll keep you posted as to what happens.”  The borough council is scheduled to meet again on June 13.

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