Cell South of NJ, Inc. v. ZONING BD. OF ADJUSTMENT OF WEST WINDSOR TWP.

796 A.2d 247, 172 N.J. 75, 2002 N.J. LEXIS 562
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedMay 14, 2002
StatusPublished
Cited by132 cases

This text of 796 A.2d 247 (Cell South of NJ, Inc. v. ZONING BD. OF ADJUSTMENT OF WEST WINDSOR TWP.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cell South of NJ, Inc. v. ZONING BD. OF ADJUSTMENT OF WEST WINDSOR TWP., 796 A.2d 247, 172 N.J. 75, 2002 N.J. LEXIS 562 (N.J. 2002).

Opinion

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

ZAZZALI, J.

This appeal implicates both the increasing public need for wireless communication and the authority of municipalities to regulate the placement of wireless communication towers.

The defendant Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Township of West Windsor (Board or Zoning Board) denied the application of plaintiff Cell South of New Jersey, Inc. d/b/a Comcast Communications, Inc. (Comcast) for a conditional use variance to replace an existing 83-foot wireless communication tower with a 152-foot tower. The trial court concluded that the Board’s denial of Comcast’s use variance was arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable and granted Comcast the variance. The Appellate Division reversed, holding that Comcast was not entitled to the variance. Because the Zoning Board acted unreasonably in denying Comcast a conditional use variance, we reverse the Appellate Division and reinstate the judgment of the Law Division.

I

In 1995, the Board approved Comcast’s application to construct an 83-foot wireless communication tower (monopole or tower) on a *78 3.25-acre tract of land located on Alexander Road in West Windsor .(property or Alexander Road property). The property is located in the ROM-2 zone, an industrial area zoned for research offices and light manufacturing uses. Communication towers are permitted in the ROM-2 zone as a conditional use provided that the towers are no taller than 55-feet. On one side the property is adjacent to Amtrak/New Jersey Transit rail lines. The only other structures on the property are an auto repair garage and a storage facility maintained by Comcast. The closest residential dwelling is approximately 370 feet away.

In 1997, two years after the Board’s approval and Comcast’s construction of the 83-foot monopole, Comcast submitted another application to the Board to replace the existing monopole with a 152-foot monopole. Comcast sought the variance to improve and expand coverage throughout the West Windsor area, and to permit Sprint Spectrum LP (Sprint), another wireless communications provider, to install its wireless communication antenna on the Comcast monopole.

Comcast presented the testimony of six experts at a hearing before the Board. Joseph Attanasio, a radio frequency expert and Comcast employee, testified that the existing 83-foot tower did not provide adequate service because the monopole did not clear the surrounding tree line, thus necessitating a taller tower. Attanasio noted that because cellular service is “line-of-sight” technology, the existing monopole could not provide adequate coverage or capacity to West Windsor, including an area along the Route 1 corridor. According to Attanasio, a taller tower would not only improve the quality of wireless service, but would expand the tower’s capacity, reducing the number of “dropped” or blocked calls along the Route 1 corridor. In Attanasio’s opinion, the current demand for cellular service along sections of Route 1 is not satisfied by Comcast’s existing monopole.

Two professional planners also testified on behalf of Comcast. Carl Lindbloom stated that replacing the current tower with a taller one would not affect surrounding areas in a negative way *79 explaining that the new monopole, when viewed from certain vantage points, would be filtered or blocked by existing structures. In addition, he testified that the taller tower would not have a more pronounced environmental impact on the area than the existing monopole. Specifically, Lindbloom observed that the taller monopole, as with the existing tower, would not produce any noise, smoke, odors, heat, dust, glare, or traffic. Lindbloom also noted that the taller tower would permit Sprint to collocate, that is, to set its antenna on Comcast’s monopole rather than erect its own tower, thus reducing the overall number of monopoles serving the West Windsor area. Further, the proposed tower would improve “9-1-1” emergency services in the area. A second professional planner, Ralph Ford, testified in respect of a “balloon test” he conducted. According to Ford, he floated a balloon ten feet in diameter and three feet in height approximately 150 feet over Comcast’s existing tower to evaluate the visual impact of the proposed tower on the surrounding area. The results of that test revealed that the proposed tower would not adversely impact the aesthetics of the surrounding area.

Other witnesses testifying on Comcast’s behalf reached similar conclusions. A Comcast real-estate project manager testified concerning the ways in which the proposed monopole could be camouflaged or disguised from view. The professional engineer who drafted the site plan for the proposed monopole testified that the new tower would be virtually identical to Comcast’s existing monopole, except that it would be taller. Finally, a real estate appraiser testified that the proposed tower would not alter the property values of surrounding residences or neighborhoods. He stated that because Comcast did not intend to install a different structure on the property, but rather erect only a higher tower, “the proposed use would not have any measurable bearing on the utility or value of the nearest homes.”

In addition to Comcast’s experts, West Windsor’s planning consultant testified that the new tower would not affect area traffic. He stated that the installation of an antenna was an *80 appropriate land use in the ROM-2 zone. He also opined that the community would benefit from the collocation of Sprint’s antenna atop the proposed tower because it would reduce the total number of monopoles within the township.

Several residents testified at the hearing in opposition to Com-cast’s application. The residents’ concerns focused on the negative visual impact of the proposed tower and the potential impact of the taller tower on property values. The residents did not offer any expert testimony concerning any alleged adverse effect on property values or on whether the proposed tower would impair the intent or purpose of the zoning plan or ordinance.

The Board denied Comcast’s application, finding that Comcast had failed to satisfy the positive and negative criteria required for a variance. Specifically, the Board stated that

[fjrom the testimony presented, the Board recognized that ... [the higher tower would improve] the quality of service along Route 1[J The Board was not satisfied that the current system is not functioning in such a fashion so as to meet and satisfy current PCC requirements. The testimony presented indicated that the current 83-foot high tower was servicing the West Windsor community adequately!] If problems exist with [Comcast’s] system, they exist as a result of the antennas in Lawrenceville and Plainsboro Township. Also, the Board believes that [Comcast] could enhance the quality of its service, ... by exploring other alternatives such as lower towers at multiple other sites or attaching antennas to existing buildings and structures along the Route 1 corridor.

Thus, the Board concluded that because

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Bluebook (online)
796 A.2d 247, 172 N.J. 75, 2002 N.J. LEXIS 562, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cell-south-of-nj-inc-v-zoning-bd-of-adjustment-of-west-windsor-twp-nj-2002.