Cellphone provider fights for antennas

[larry]

Friday, July 6, 2007

By JOHN PETRICK
STAFF WRITER



Cingular Wireless will go to court Monday fighting to erect new cellphone antennas in Wayne to improve user reception – this after the township's Planning Board rejected the company's request to put up the equipment.

Cingular, now solely owned by AT&T, applied to the board in December 2004 to install 12 wireless communication antennas atop an office building on property the company leased at 1445 Valley Road, according to the suit. "The property was determined to be a location which would service Cingular's needs in filling a gap which exists in its wireless telecommunications network in the township," the suit states.


Following the presentation of testimony, evidence and public hearings in 2005 and 2006, the Planning Board denied Cingular's application on the basis that it did not satisfy conditions in a township ordinance regulating wireless telecommunications facilities, the suit states.

Cingular wants state Superior Court Assignment Judge Robert Passero – who will hear the case in Paterson -- to set aside the Planning Board's decision as arbitrary and capricious. It also asks that the court strike down the township's so-called Wireless Ordinance for being so prohibitive to service providers that it violates the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.

The company argues that it satisfied the terms of the Wireless Ordinance – or, at least, all it could. Attorney Christopher John Stracco, representing Cingular, said that among the many "priorities" outlined in the ordinance is that a company use township land to erect such equipment. "The reasoning seemed to be that the town would get the rental money," he said. Yet, he said, when Wayne recently went out to bid to build a cell tower on municipally owned land, it rejected Cingular's bid in favor of Sprint. The plaintiff maintains that the township's bid requirements were unreasonable.

"We believe that they are discriminating against us and are allowing Sprint to build on the township property, while denying us the chance to put a site up nearby. So they are discriminating against one carrier over another and preventing Cingular from serving the public in that area. ... We had a perfectly acceptable landlord willing to put this on a building that's already there. We're looking at an existing building, and we would camouflage the antennae."

Calls this week to Wayne officials for comment were not returned.


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[Fire14]

Welcome to NJ and the wonderful world of politics. It is amazing what these towns try to get away with & I hope the judge agrees that they are too restrictive & rules in favor of AT&T.

I also hope Sprint gets their tower up & maybe in another location that may be cheaper for them.

[ansky]

Does Verizon have coverage in this area or is it a dead spot for all carriers?