Neighbor worried about safety
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/19/06
BY LARRY HIGGS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

FAIR HAVEN — Thomas Kirman of Fisk Street doesn't like his new neighbor-to-be.

Kirman is worried that the new potential neighbor will be too big, too close and too . . . electromagnetic.

Kirman lives across the street from the borough's new proposed cell tower site, which was selected Monday night by the Borough Council. Since the council's vote, Kirman has talked to representatives of New Jersey's two U.S. senators, one congressman, the mayor and two borough councilmen about the issue.

"We're very mad that behind everyone's back, they've moved it to a nonconforming lot," Kirman said.

Councilman Thomas Gilmour explained that the borough couldn't put a municipal tower on its first choice for a site, the police station/youth center, because that property is included on Fair Haven's open space inventory.

That means officials would have had to get permission from the state Department of Environmental Protection, the same agency that denied the borough's application to swap municipal parkland to the state for Green Acres land on the outskirts of Fair Haven Fields for a tower site.

But Kirman said the tiny tower lot is too close to surrounding houses and will be 20 feet away from the two next-door houses and 20 feet away from his home across the street.

"I've sent e-mails to everyone — to residents in the area and sent them to everyone I know on Fair Haven recreation, softball and the recreation committee," Kirman said. "I want them to pass the word along."

Kirman said he spoke about the tower and neighbors' concerns to Mayor Joseph Szostak and Councilmen Christopher Walrath, who opposed the new site, and Jerome Koch, who supported it. He told officials that the borough-owned property was too small even for a house and that a zoning variance would be needed to build anything there.

"I told the mayor, once it gets to a variance application, I'll bus people in here (to hearings) if I have to," Kirman said. "I'm looking for neighbors to stand up and learn the facts. Even the police station was a stupid idea because it's right next to a youth center."

In addition to the sight of a tower looming over homes, Kirman said he is concerned about the health effects. While various studies say there are no health effects from cell tower electromagnetic radiation, Kirman is skeptical of those claims.

"Thirty years ago, smoking, asbestos and lead paint were thought to be safe," he said.

The new site, three doors down from the police station/youth center, is the latest part of the borough cell tower drama. Borough officials are seeking their own tower to earn revenue to offset taxes, and Verizon Wireless has applied for approval to build a 133-foot tower at the Church of the Nativity on Ridge Road.

That application is scheduled for another public hearing Sept. 7. Residents of the nearby Gentry neighborhood and other residents have opposed that tower, and borough officials hired an attorney to represent Fair Haven's interests at the hearings.

Kirman echoed the opinion of other residents from a variety of neighborhoods that a cell tower shouldn't be located anywhere near residential areas.

"My message is a cell tower shouldn't be put on a residential street, at a school or where kids play," he said.

Instead, Kirman supports locating a tower on the outskirts of Fair Haven Fields. Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, wrote to the DEP, asking the agency to reconsider the borough's application to swap municipal park land for a tower site.

"The Fair Haven Fields site is far enough away from residential, and it's not an eyesore," he said.

Meanwhile, the borough engineer is drafting specifications, which the borough will put out to bid, for a company to either build the cell tower for the borough or to lease the property and build its own tower.

"People who build them say they are no worse of a health effect than putting a cell phone to your head, but that is voluntary," Kirman said. "Building a tower is an involuntary sentence for 30 years for residents."

Larry Higgs: (732) 643-4277 or lhiggs@ app.com