Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • August 29, 2012 Franklin Lakes Council wants board to appeal T-Mobile monopole ruling by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Council has voted to recommend that the zoning board appeal the recent court ruling pertaining to T-Mobile Northwest LLC’s application to locate a monopole behind the Urban Farms Shopping Center on Franklin Lake Road. The action was taken at a public council meeting last week after the governing body discussed the issue in closed session and then reconvened the public meeting to vote on the matter. The appeal concerns a July 19 ruling by Superior Court Judge Menelaos Toskos. That ruling reversed the zoning board’s September 2011 denial of T-Mobile’s application and remanded the application to that board for the purpose of setting reasonable conditions on the project. “We think it is detrimental to the area and the residents and so we think it is reasonable to fight this, and, at the very least, to fight it to see if there is any potential for movement on the part of T-Mobile,” Franklin Lakes Mayor Frank Bivona said of the council’s action. Bivona said the appeal will also provide the opportunity to talk to the owners of the shopping center about the location for the monopole on that property and how to reduce its visibility and impact on neighbors. “We don’t want to passively close the doors,” Bivona said. “We think there are still good grounds (for the appeal) and we think it is still a detriment to the neighborhood and so we want to continue to fight. Maybe there will be the possibility of relocation or some other alternative that makes sense. “The point of appealing it is that we are still against it, and will be against it, and we want to see the best possible outcome for the neighborhood.” The zoning board had planned to consider the conditions that could be imposed on the monopole location at the Sept. 6 meeting, but now the board will consider the recommendation from the council at that meeting and make the final decision on the appeal. T-Mobile wants to locate a 130-foot high flagpole style wireless telecommunications monopole behind the Urban Farms Shopping Center to fill a gap in their communications network in that area. The zoning board denied T-Mobile’s application for a conditional use variance. The denial was based on the board’s contention that the monopole would violate the setback distance from residential property that is required by the borough’s zoning ordinance. The location of the monopole as proposed by T-Mobile would have been 156 feet from the nearest residential property, while a 300-foot setback is required by borough ordinance. Judge Toskos ordered T-Mobile’s application for a con- ditional use variance and site plan approval to be granted. In his opinion, Toskos said he found no persuasive evidence in the record to deny T-Mobile’s application, and the board did not have sufficient evidence on the record to support the decision to deny the application based on the monopole’s visual impact on the neighborhood. He also determined that the decision of the borough’s zoning board was arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable. Several residents of Feather Lane, which is the nearest residential street to the proposed location of the monopole, questioned T-Mobile’s professional experts during the public hearing on the application. The residents voiced their objections to locating the monopole within the required 300-foot setback. In response, T-Mobile attempted to get permission to locate the monopole on the High Mountain Road School property, the Indian Trail Club property, the McBride Field property, and the Most Blessed Sacrament Church property. Those sites were either encumbered by a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres restriction, or the land owners did not express an interest in locating a monopole on their property. The Franklin Lakes Borough Council has adopted an ordinance that implements a fee schedule for solar energy systems. The ordinance supplements Chapter 220, “Uniform Construction Codes,” in the borough code. The ordinance defines a solar array as a mechanically integrated assembly of modules or panels with a support structure and foundation, tracker, and other components to form a DC power-producing unit. It also defines a solar module as a complete, environmentally protected unit consisting of cells, optics, and other components, exclusive of tracker, designed to generate DC power when exposed to sunlight. Solar panels are defined as a collection of modules mechanically fastened together, wired and designed to provide a field-installable unit, and a solar inverter as equipment that changes DC power from the photovoltaic source to AC power. According to the ordinance, the fees for solar voltaic Borough sets fees for solar energy systems systems shall be as follows: In the residential use group, a solar array of from one kilowatt to 10 kilowatts will be $45; and the fee for a solar array for each additional one kilowatt unit measurement, or part of, over 10 kilowatts will be $2. The fee for each subpanel/disconnect will cost $45, while the fee for each inverter of up to 50 kilowatts will be $60. The fee for an inverter over 50 kilowatts will be $6 dollars for each additional 10 kilowatt measurement or part of a 10 kilowatt measurement. The fees for other use groups will be $100 for a solar array from one kilowatt to 50 kilowatts; and $15 for each additional one kilowatt unit measurement or part of one kilowatt measurement over 50 kilowatts. The fee for each subpanel/disconnect will be $50 and $75 for each inverter up to 50 kilowatts. The fee for each additional 10 kilowatt measurement or part of a 10 kilowatt measurement for an inverter over 50 kilowatts will be $6. (continued on page 6)