Will Belmar succeed in keeping Verizon's 'ugly' 40-foot 5g poles away from its boardwalk?

Borough residents and newly-elected officials say they were caught off guard earlier this year when they learned that Verizon planned to install poles as high as 40 feet carrying 5G wireless equipment next to Belmar’s boardwalk.

Prior to that, little of the plan came to light in public forums, Mayor Gerald Buccafusco said.

“It was like all under the radar for a long time,” said Buccafusco, sworn in this year.

Kevin Kane, borough business administrator, recalled a phone call he got early this year from someone representing Verizon shortly after he started the job.

“They wanted to know what color we wanted the poles to be,” Kane said. “I said, ‘What poles?’”

Now, despite a settlement between Verizon and the Belmar officials who were in charge before a change of guard on council, the borough - and now Monmouth County - are fighting back.

Some 200 residents turned out for a meeting in May to protest the plan. Monmouth County Commissioner Director Thomas Arnone pledged his support for Belmar at a June 8 commissioners meeting. A change.org petition calling for a stop to the plan has garnered nearly 3,000 signatures. And Belmar Borough Council has just hired an attorney with expertise in the field of wireless communications who says he may have found a loophole to move the poles away from the beach.

“We’re beefing up our side in what’s basically a war with Verizon,” Buccafusco said.

Still Buccafusco, an attorney, acknowledges Belmar could face a tough uphill battle, especially with the Federal Communications Commission standing in the way.

“The FCC regulations on this give Verizon and the other companies a lot of power as far as where they can put these up,” he said.

The borough residents are fighting the poles on aesthetic and other grounds. The poles or 40-foot cell towers, as opponents describe them, will be interspersed among decorative lights on the boardwalk, installed during its reconstruction following Superstorm Sandy. The lights stand about half as tall as the proposed poles.

The poles will not fall in line with the spacing of the existing lights, altering the design and appeal of Belmar’s oceanfront, Kane said. There are no utility poles or tall street lights on Ocean Avenue, with the exception of a single large pole. The utilities are underground, he said.

“Verizon's plans are excessive, disruptive and disrespectful to our community and our treasured natural resources," the change.org petition reads. "We ask Verizon to stop all plans and to work with the community to find a solution that does not involve placing ugly towers on our beach.”

In response to the opposition, Christopher Serico, a Verizon spokesperson, said in an email, “We always take steps to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and local procedures, and maintain open lines of communication in the neighborhoods where we're working. That's been the case from the beginning, and that process continues today.”

Opponents have also called into question the safety of the wireless equipment atop the poles. There’s a growing call for the federal government to determine whether 5G harms people and animals.

Foggy history

Verizon filed an application for the plan in January 2021, but borough officials at the time failed to act on it.

The Federal Communications Commission gives the state or local governments 90 days to take action on an application involving poles for wireless equipment that will have multiple users.

From the archives: 5G cell service will change how you live, and Asbury Park gets a sneak peek

“Belmar missed the shot clock,” said Caitlin Donovan, a newly-appointed council member who has led the effort to keep Verizon’s equipment off Ocean Avenue.

Verizon sued in May 2021 and borough officials settled the suit in September 2022, shortly before voters sent them packing.

Verizon’s plan originally called for 18 “small wireless communication systems” each on a “single-carrier decorative pole."

By the time Belmar signed off on the settlement, the number grew to 20 and the poles changed to poles “capable of being increased in height to support an additional wireless provider’s equipment,” according to the agreement.

A schematic shows the poles to be 40 feet tall. They are due to be placed a block apart from each other to bring upgraded WiFi service to beachgoers.

The agreement also outlines that Belmar would receive $108,000 for the use of the public right of way, but that may not matter.

After the settlement agreement between Verizon and the borough, the carrier learned the right of way it sought to place their poles within was actually owned by Monmouth County, Buccafusco said.

Change of venue

The legal battle has now moved on to the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners, where the plan last week was stalled.

A separate dispute has arisen. Verizon is relying on a 2016 agreement with the county to put up the poles, but county officials said the agreement pertains only to placing equipment on existing structures.

Verizon’s land use attorney, Gregory D. Meese, disagreed in a June 14 letter to the board, saying Verizon has installed new wireless equipment on both new and existing poles under that 2016 agreement.

Meese also reminded the county that the 90-day shot clock is ticking on the wireless carrier’s application to move ahead with the plan, filed on May 11.

Peter Lupo, the attorney hired by Belmar, said the law is clear about wireless companies being allowed to install 5G.

“You can’t prohibit or materially inhibit the installation of the 5g small cell sites in the public right away,” he said.

But Lupo says he may have found what he called a loophole - one that he acknowledges will not fully satisfy the opponents.

Verizon in a presentation to Belmar Borough Council in 2020 unveiled two plans: one to place the wireless poles on the east side of Ocean Avenue right up against the boardwalk and another to erect the poles on the other side of the street.

Lupo said he is now working with Verizon and the board of county commissioners to negotiate moving the proposed poles to the west side of Ocean Avenue, which could keep the Belmar oceanfront largely intact.

"From a technical standpoint, they could make that work, and it's something they asserted and something they proposed," Lupo said. "It is technically feasible for Verizon Wireless."

Editor's note: The newly appointed councilwoman who has led the effort to move Verizon's 5G cell phones away from the boardwalk is Caitlin Donovan. Her name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story. Also, Belmar was due to receive $108,000 for the use of the right of way, not each year for the 20 years.

Ken Serrano covers breaking news, crime, local issues and investigations. Reach him at 732-643-4029 or at kserrano@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Belmar NJ at 'war' with Verizon over 5G 'towers' slated for oceanfront