Board Plans Extra Cell Tower Meeting

Experts working for MetroPCS finished giving testimony this week about a to be built on top of .

Members of the Westwood Zoning Board said they would need time to deliberate the issue before voting, but an Greg Meese, an attorney representing MetroPCS, said the company would not give another extension for the application because it had already taken more than 120 days, the time given for tower applications in the federal Telecommunications Act.

"We don't have time," board Chairman William Martin said. "We're way past our deadline and we need to deliberate this."

Board attorney David Rutherford said the board could vote to dismiss the application without prejudice, but a motion to do that was not seconded.

The board agreed to hold a special meeting September 25, the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, at 8 p.m. to listen to Meese's closing argument, deliberate and vote on the matter.

MetroPCS wants to build a 25-foot faux smokestack, which would house antennas, above the theater. The combined height would be about 70 feet.

The plan requires variances for the height and for the non-permited use in the Central Business District.

The company previously bid on space in the cell tower at the twice and also looked at the building, according to Meese.

The fire department's tower would not work because there was not enough room and the borough's requirements would not work with MetroPCS's equipment, engineers said. Radio frequency enigneer Christopher Olsen said it appeared that the requirements were designed for one specific cell phone company, but each company uses different antennas.

"It appeared that the bid was specific to one carrier with their very specific needs," Olsen said.

Meese said he believed the theater was the best possible location for their tower, noting that it was actually further from residential properties than the fire department's tower.

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