A proposed cellular tower at the firehouse could provide service to 55 percent of the township, along with parts of neighboring towns, land planner Brian Seidel, of Seidel Planning & Design, Pottstown, testified before the Upper Salford Zoning Hearing Board April 30, according to the Reporter News.
“Being up on the ridgeline, it is able to provide coverage down into the community on both sides of this ridgeline,” Seidel said. During previous testimony in the case, a radio frequency engineer testified that a “significant portion” of the township now lacks reliable cellular coverage because the ridgeline blocks it, the News reported.
Verizon Wireless is requesting to build the cell tower on Upper Salford Township Volunteer Company’s property on Old Skippack Road. The property is zoned for institutional use, not the limited industrial zoning under which the township’s zoning code allows cellular towers.
Verizon attorney Nicholas Cuce Jr. said, “It will have no impact on public schools and will provide only benefits to police and fire protection,” he said. “It will have no negative impact on traffic and will not generate any noise, measurable noise, under normal conditions.”
Only two percent of the township’s land is in the industrial zoning district, he said.
Cellular towers are also allowed on existing tall structures anywhere in the township under Upper Salford’s zoning, but the cellular antenna cannot add more than 15 feet to the height and no buildings were found that were tall enough to meet the tower’s proposed height, he told the News.
May 22, 2018
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