T-Mobile Cell Tower Application Pushed Back to January

The Ridgewood Zoning Board of Adjustment will not be continuing its hearing of until January 10.

It's a plan that has met strong resistance from neighbors, who say changing zoning law to accommodate a structure "larger than the Statue of Liberty" 40 feet from residential homes will diminish property values and could present safety issues, the latter of which T-Mobile denies. T-Mobile maintains it has federal law on its side and is required to improve its communication infrastructure. In its most recent hearing, , including the train station in Ho-Ho-Kus.

Much of the early part of 2011 featured contentious battles between neighborhoods and cell tower companies. The fights near the Ho-Ho-Kus border at First and Barnett came to a crescendo when the . The council , officials said. But strong resistance from neighbors and questions of legislative transparency led to a rescinding of the bid.

Citizens broached the council with a proposal to form a committee comprised of officials, professional staff and neighbors to review cell tower applications.

Reached for comment Wednesday, Mayor Keith Killion said a committee has not been formed. To his knowledge, there's been no movement since the council pulled the fire house RFP.