Politics & Government

Residents Unite Against Proposed Springfield T-Mobile Cell Tower

Meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Residents are up in arms about a proposed T-Mobile cell tower on Shunpike Road in Springfield and are taking their angst to the Springfield Zoning Board Wednesday night.

The proposed 175-foot tower would be just over the Summit border on the property of the Knights of Columbus, 5560 Shunpike Road.

T-Mobile is currently in the process of applying for a variance as Springfield has a construction height maximum of 40 feet.

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The residents of East Summit have three main objections to the proposed tower:

  1. It will severely reduce property values as it will be an eyesore as an artificial protrusion way above the tree line.
  2. It may increase the risk of a forest fire as it will be located in a tree-dense area and the tower may attract lightning given its excessive height.
  3. The tower's radiofrequency waves may result in untoward health effects such as cancer.

"This tower is clearly of no benefit to us and furthermore will place our physical and mental well being in danger," said John Li, a Princeton Street resident.

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Li said that during a search into the possible negative effects of RF waves on the human body, he uncovered a plethora of studies that are starting to indicate a very strong cause-and-effect correlation, despite repeated reassurances from the government that RF waves, which are considered non-ionizing, are completely safe. 

"It appeared that there is a strong parallel between the history of the discovery of the dangers of cigarettes and RF waves," Li said.

Common Council also recently passed a resolution expressing their opposition to the proposal.

“It would be nice if our friends in Springfield would do the neighborly thing and not place this unsightly tower on our boarder," Mayor Jordan Glatt said. "There is a reason they have chosen an area as far away from their residents as possible to place this tower. That’s because their residents don’t want it.  Let’s be clear: Summit’s residents don’t want it either."

T-Mobile also applied to the Millburn Zoning Board for variances to build a similar 140-foot cellular tower behind the Short Hills Terrace apartments at 806 Morris Turnpike. The proposed tower would have been about 80 feet from the property line, adjacent to the train tracks. It also would have been 80 feet from the apartment building, which is tucked back from the road. The tower would have looked like a tree, similar to other masked cell towers in the region, including one along the Garden State Parkway in Clark. However, after a large showing of local residents opposed to the project, T-Mobile withdrew its application.

T-Mobile has also recently applied for variances to build towers in and .

The Springfield Zoning Board will meet Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Springfield Town Hall, 100 Mountain Avenue.


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