Judge upholds Chatham Twp. denial of AT&T antennas on tower

A Superior Court judge has upheld the Chatham Township Zoning Board's denial of an application by New Cingular Wireless to attach 12 telecommunications antennas to a water tower on Buxton Road and add equipment cabinets around the base of the 105-foot tower.

Superior Court Assignment Judge Stuart Minkowitz, sitting in Morristown, heard the lawsuit by New Cingular (AT&T) over the zoning board's denial in October 2014 and issued a written ruling that concluded the board acted appropriately.

New Cingular, which leases a portion of property on Buxton Road from the New Jersey American Water Company, had sought a use variance, height variance and preliminary and final site plan approval for the installation of 12 wireless telecommunications antennas that would not loom above the top of the tower.

The applicant also wanted to install an antenna at an elevation of 100 feet on the top of the existing water tower, as well as equipment cabinets on a 10-foot-by-17-foot concrete pad to be located on the ground next to the water tower inside the fenced-in property. A use variance was necessary because the tower is located in a residential zone.

New Cingular sought approval of the antennas to fill gaps in AT&T's wireless service. After nine hearings that spanned November 2013 to Oct. 16, 2014, the zoning board denied the application because of "noise concerns, a negative aesthetic impact, that alternative sites were better suited, and the devaluation of neighborhood property values," the judge's decision noted.

In reviewing the case, Minkowitz stated that courts ordinarily do not disturb the decisions of local boards except when the decisions are found to be "arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable."

In siding with the zoning board, the judge found that New Cingular had not met its burden for a variance by establishing how many users are affected by the gaps in wireless coverage.  He also found that four equipment cabinets at the base of the tower exceeded a federal regulation on height and volume.  Based upon this regulation, the zoning board "properly denied plaintiff's application...," the judge wrote.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.