No Cell Tower for Memorial School

The Paramus Board of Education will not pursue the placement of a cell tower near the location of Memorial School, an idea that had been presented to the board previously via the Planning Board attorney, as a move in trying to settle the borough’s legal matter with Sprint.

A large group of inquiring parents who filed into the auditorium at East Brook Middle School Monday applauded when Board of Ed Vice President Joanne G. Bergmann stated that the board had no plans to pursue this cell tower in the area of the elementary school.

Bergmann stated the item was not on the agenda for the meeting but through earlier discussion the consensus of the board was to not pursue the Planning Board attorney suggestion.

According to a previous report, had the Board of Education agreed to take the cell tower it could have meant revenue for the district estimated at $90,000 to $100,000 and an end to pending litigation from Sprint, a case which is now said to be headed to federal court, according to the borough’s attorney Brian Giblin.

The borough has been fending off litigation from the cellular company for the past two years since the Zoning Board denied Sprint’s application to construct a cell tower at the ambulance building on Midland Avenue.

Sprint had applied to the borough’s Zoning Board two times dating back as far as 2004. Both applications – one to build a monopole at the ambulance and a second to construct for a cell tower at the Church of Nazarene - were denied after  17 public hearings, ranging over a span of four years from 2005 to 2009.

Following that Sprint sued the borough for violating the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law; a summary judgement was heard in November 2010 which resulted in a split ruling for both parties.

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