Cell tower hearing postponed

HOWELL - Residents of the township's Ramtown section who were awaiting the continuation of a zoning board hearing on a proposed telecommunications tower, will have to wait a little longer.

The hearing for the tower, which is proposed to be placed on the 1.5-acre property of the Ramtown Fire Company, Ramtown-Greenville Road, was carried from the board's Oct. 23 agenda at the request of Omnipoint Communications Inc., the applicant.

The hearing will now take place on Nov. 13 at 8 p.m.

The application initially came before the board in August.

Zoning board attorney Ronald Troppoli said at the Oct. 23 meeting that representatives of Omnipoint requested the application to be carried due to a lack of full attendance from the board.

Six of the board's nine members (seven regular members and two alternate members) were in attendance for the hearing.

Troppoli explained that the applicant had a right to ask for the application to be carried. He assured the residents assembled for the hearing that the applicant was not acting inappropriately.

"There's nothing improper," he said, restating that the applicant is entitled to have a full board present for the presentation of its testimony.

As proposed, a 150-foot-tall communications tower would be built to facilitate wireless telephone service in the area and provide a source of revenue for the volunteer fire company.