The Alternative Press

FANWOOD – Wednesday night, at the regular meeting of the Fanwood Planning Board, members approved the installation of a temporary wireless communication facility at 1 South Ave., at Terrill Road.  T-Mobile will construct a 100 foot tower in the rear of the parking lot of Young Paint and Varnish Company.

The application from T-Mobile is for a temporary tower, to be in place for two years, as the PSE&G tower on South Ave. gets replaced. PSE&G’s North Central Reliability Project is taking towers down and will put new towers up within two years. T-Mobile has been ordered off the PSE&G towers. Without the temporary tower, during this time T-Mobile’s customers would not have any service.

Mr. Greg Meese, the attorney for T-Mobile, presented to the board four expert witnesses who testified that the 100 foot ballast mounted antennae, as proposed, will not be obvious to any off-site person and will not require any permanent landscaping.

There was a presentation showing how the T-Mobile coverage with the temporary tower would be similar to the current coverage. The proposed subject site averages approximately 40 911 calls a month from cell phones.

T-Mobile did a similar presentation to the Scotch Plains Planning Board and the board approved the temporary site.