Fox Hollow Drops Cell Tower Plan at Swim Club

The Fox Hollow Swim Club cell tower fight is over, almost before it really began.

The club’s board has officially killed the plan to place an AT&T tower on the property, roughly a month and a half after the idea first surfaced publicly, without ever advancing it for possible approval by Cherry Hill officials.

In a statement released by the club, board members said they weighed input from membership as well as the community surrounding Fox Hollow in eventually ceasing talks with AT&T regarding the tower.

“The potential loss of members, and more importantly, the potential division within the Fox Hollow neighborhood, heavily impacted our decision as a board to no longer pursue the cell tower contract,” they said in the statement.

Opponents, though, said if not for the community opposition, things might’ve turned out differently.

After being shut out from the process as the club considered the tower proposal, which would’ve occupied a spot at the back of the parking lot on the 3.6-acre club property, local activists like Margaret Krzeminski-Pacuku took to a petition drive to help give the neighborhood a voice in the fight.

Buoyed by more than 450 signatures on one petition and lawn signs that dotted the neighborhoods around the swim club, Krzeminski-Pacuku said they wanted to make sure to have the community covered.

“We are delighted,” she said of the decision to nix the tower plan. “We would’ve liked it to have never gone that far.”

Opponents also raised the concern of the precedent it could set, should Fox Hollow have put up a tower, given how swim clubs were laid out in Cherry Hill.

“All of the swim clubs are smack dab in the middle of neighborhoods,” Krzeminski-Pacuku said.

Though the cell tower may be off the table, the concerns that drove Fox Hollow’s board to consider the plan—and a reported $2,000 per month lease from AT&T—remain, including major repairs to the pool deck, coping and underground supply and return lines, and board members said they’re worried about the long-term viability of the club.

“Exploring the cell tower proposal was a unique opportunity to increase revenue to sustain the club without putting further financial burden on our current and future members,” they said in the statement. “It would have been financially irresponsible for the board not to consider any source of potential income that could have sustained the club in a safe working order.”

With that potential cash flow cut off, board members called on the surrounding community to help support Fox Hollow’s health over the long run.

“With the cell phone tower not being a viable option to increase revenue for the club, the time is now for our members, and the neighborhood community at large, to be committed to the long term revitalization and improvement goals of the swim club,” they said. “These are the only ways we can protect this valuable neighborhood asset.”