Cell Tower Coming to Old Freehold Road

The horizon off Old Freehold Road will soon include a cell tower, now that the Toms River Planning Board approved an application from T-Mobile for a reception tower behind .

Lynne Dunn from Dunn and Beck Attorney proposed the application for T-Mobile to implement a reception tower in the 12.59 acre lot on Old Freehold Road behind Congregation B’Nai Israel and the Nursery School.

The new reception tower will reach 120 feet high, but will be painted "Parkway brown" to help camouflage the metal construct. The fenced in unit will be remotely monitored allowing for minimal personal on-site maintenance, according to the applicant.

Greenery facing the house of worship and Nursery School will help disguise the wire-filled pole, which will benefit the community by filling in the gap between the four other wireless carrier towers in Toms River.

Ed York, electrical engineer and radio frequency design engineer, saw the coverage gap for the area of Todd Road, Wood Road, Vincenzo Drive, Dugan Lane and other highly commuted roads in North and West Dover sections.

The areas were sprinkled with deficient and unreliable coverage. This tower will fill in those areas, York said.

According to the radio frequency emissions expert brought before the board, Dave Collins, the emission is low and any added carrier must council with the federal government before implementing more. Past 500 feet, the frequency diminishes, keeping the closest residence of 555 feet safe from being harmfully affected.

Other carriers are able to implement their own wires into the tower for utilization but if the tower becomes no longer productive, T-Mobile is responsible for deconstruction, according to the site plans.

In July, the initial proposal was deemed complete, but had amendments for conditional use and public notice requirements, which the approved last week.