{"id":15053,"date":"2023-10-25T06:31:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T10:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=15053"},"modified":"2023-10-25T06:31:56","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T10:31:56","slug":"lavallette-5g-hearing-wednesday-will-introduce-revised-six-site-plan-from-verizon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2023\/10\/lavallette-5g-hearing-wednesday-will-introduce-revised-six-site-plan-from-verizon\/","title":{"rendered":"Lavallette 5G Hearing Wednesday Will Introduce Revised Six-Site Plan From Verizon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

A small 5G wireless facility on top of an existing timber pole, Lavallette, N.J., May 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

Verizon will return to a hearing before Lavallette’s planning board on Wednesday, continuing a hearing that began in September over the potential installation of six new “small cell” mobile antenna arrays that will be placed on utility poles in the borough.<\/p>\n

The hours-long meeting in September failed to yield a recommendation<\/a> from the planning board on the antennas, with board members peppering the wireless provider’s professional staff with questions over issues ranging from aesthetics, to Verizon’s street-level wireless network, to how frequencies in the data spectrum differ from other providers, making the small cell nodes necessary. The board also found that one of the proposed nodes carried an incorrect address, making it seem as if the node would be located near the borough’s baseball field rather than a residential home across the street.<\/p>\n

Lavallette’s battle with Verizon is one of several ongoing in New Jersey, as the company battles local planning boards and city councils complaining about the aesthetics of the equipment. In Lavallette, the borough council passed an ordinance requiring permits<\/a> for wireless providers to place nodes on utility poles \u2013 whether the poles are owned by the borough or another utility company. As part of the ordinance, a wireless provider appears before the planning board, which hears testimony under oath before making a formal recommendation to the council. The council can choose to issue the permit or deny it, though federal policies provide only limited regulatory powers to municipal governments, as the Federal Communications Commission considers wireless bandwidth part of the national infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A small 5G wireless facility on top of an existing timber pole, Lavallette, N.J., May 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)<\/p><\/div>\n

Verizon has previous threatened to sue Lavallette over the matter, prompting the council to grudgingly approve a previous set of nodes. In Belmar, Monmouth County, the borough has retained legal council and is preparing to battle<\/a> Verizon over a plan to install about 20 nodes along the town’s boardwalk. Likewise, the Belmar battle centers on the aesthetics of the nodes in close proximity to the beach.<\/p>\n

In Lavallette, the nodes are proposed for six locations, the proposals of which have been updated since the September meeting. The locations are:<\/strong><\/p>\n