Wireless Company Approaches BOE on Cell Tower at Coolidge School

Wyckoff Board of Education members expressed their reservations Monday night about a proposal to erect a wireless tower at Calvin Coolidge Elementary School.

While a proposal has been received by the district, administration and board officials have not yet decided whether to pursue the request from Wave Wireless. Should agreement be reached that an installation at Coolidge is a worthwhile pursuit, the board would likely solicit alternate proposals from various vendors to ensure the most favorable monetary terms to the district.

"We owe it to have the conversation go forward," said board President Rob Francin, "but I think we seriously need to consider the detrimental effects this could have both on our relationship as a good neighbor as well as the potential health effects to the children in the school."

Interim Superintendent Richard Kuder said the administration was approached in the spring by the wireless company with a request to install communications equipment at the rear of the Grandview Avenue school, past Coolidge's baseball fields.

The administration rejected the possibility of a flag-pole installation, as it "was a monstrosity with a lot of real estate," Kuder said. The administration said today that the type of installation would essentially be up to the district if it pursued the proposal.

"Should it go through, we would want it to be as unobtrusive as possible," Kuder said.

"We have not seriously talked to them about numbers; we are far away from that," Kuder said. "We're not making any decisions."

Board member Diane Sobin said today that discussions are "very, very preliminary" and the board will "need to receive a lot of public input" before proceeding.

However, such an installation would provide the board with annual income, contracted over a definitive period of time.

"One of the things the board is certainly looking into is alternative means of raising funds," the superintendent said.

The administration said today that any such deal would have a limited life span, contracted over a number of years. 

Board members, who were reviewing the proposal for the first time (after Facilities Committee discussion), immediately expressed concerns about the project.

"I think they need to address any potential health effects it could have on having children sit six hours a day near a tower with all that radiation coming out of it," Francin said.

Vice President Lisa Martone questioned the safety of having an installation that could be accessed at virtually any time by anyone, although business Administrator Alan Reiffe said any such concerns could be managed through the terms of any potential contract.

While saying it wasn't the board's "main concern," Francin wondered whether the benefit of a revenue-enhancing installation would be outweighed by the possible public backlash.

"We have a lot of homes right around there; if I just spent X-amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars and all of a sudden I have a giant pole in my yard... you can count five people who won't be voting for our school budget going forward," Francin said.

The board and administration were unclear if such a proposal would need to go to the township's land-use boards for approval, given that Coolidge is school property. However, current and former zoning Board of Adjustment members said today that a variance would be necessary to install wireless equipment at the school.

"We'll do the due diligence required," Kuder said today.

Should the district follow through with the idea, any number of carriers could eventually get the deal.

"I think it's prudent... to bid the rights to do this because their (Wave Wireless) proposal may not be the highest proposal we can get," Reiffe said.

Reiffe said the board's next step would be to grant the administration approval to solicit proposals from companies, which wouldn't yet bind the district to any action.

Board members expect to solicit the public's comment in forthcoming sessions. The board's next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 18 at Lincoln Elementary School.