As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
PERSONAL WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITIES
Those antennas and/or towers providing commercial mobile
communication services, unlicensed wireless communication services,
and common carrier wireless exchange access communication services,
as prescribed in the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Telecommunications antennas and towers shall
be regulated in the Borough of Brooklawn in accordance with this article.
Tower facilities may include storage cabinets for transmitting equipment,
but may not include offices, long-term vehicle storage, other outdoor
storage, or broadcast studios, except for emergency purposes as permitted
by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), or other uses that
are not necessary to send or receive transmissions.
Applicants for development of a tower or tower
facility must meet the following conditional use requirements:
A. Lot size. Towers may be permitted on lots with a minimum
of 10,000 square feet.
B. Height. The applicant shall demonstrate that the proposed
antenna is the minimum height required for the antenna to function
satisfactorily, or as regulated by the FCC. No antennas taller than
this minimum height shall be approved.
C. Setback. Towers shall be set back from all sides of
the property at a distance from the property lines which is equal
to or greater than the tower's proposed height. No other structures
or other personal wireless service facilities, other than those structures
expressly permitted in this article, may be constructed within the
fall zone of any tower. No tower shall be erected within 500 feet
of any single-family residential use, or school facilities' property
lines.
D. Collocation.
(1) In order to prevent their proliferation in the Borough,
each tower shall be designed to allow collocation or shared use of
additional antennas for the proposed providers in the Borough of Brooklawn
and local police, fire, ambulance, emergency preparedness, and public
education facilities. Before any application may be considered by
the Planning Board, applicants must send a certified mail announcement
to all tower owners and users and to all owners of tall buildings
and structures, i.e., greater than 35 feet, within the Borough and
within a one-quarter-mile radius of the proposed site, stating their
needs and asking for permission to install or share the site of their
proposed antennas.
(2) Applicants shall provide testimony confirming that
no other tower, tall building, structure, etc., within this area is
available for collocation. Applicants cannot be denied or deny space
on an existing tower, tall building, or structure within the Borough
for economic reasons. Collocation may, however, be denied for structural,
mechanical, or regulatory factors. Copies of proposed access, collocation,
or other related leases and agreements shall be provided to the Planning
Board Solicitor for his or her review.
E. Construction. Towers shall be either of a freestanding
(monopole) or lattice (self-supporting) design and shall be constructed
in such a manner as to provide for clipping or reducing the size of
the fall zone to 66% of the total height. Towers anchored with guide
or the like wires shall not be permitted. All towers and support structures
shall be fitted with anticlimbing devices, as approved by the manufacturers,
so as to inhibit and discourage climbing by trespassers.
F. Access. An access road shall be constructed to allow
access to the tower facility. The applicant must provide performance
guarantees or adequate assurances that all access roads shall be fully
and solely maintained by the property owner or user in the future.
G. Design compatibility. The entire facility must be
architecturally compatible with its surroundings. The use of residential
compatible materials such as brick and stucco shall be required for
associated support buildings, which shall be designed to architecturally
match the predominant character of adjacent residential neighborhoods.
In no case shall metal exteriors be permitted for accessory buildings.
H. Performance standards. Equipment at tower properties
shall be automated in order to minimize the need for maintenance and
servicing. Applicants shall provide testimony indicating the estimated
frequency of maintenance service, personnel needs, equipment needs,
and any anticipated traffic, noise, radiation radio frequency interference,
and public safety impacts, such as falling ice, debris, or structural
collapse of the proposed use. Uses shall provide off-street parking
and be accessible by means of a public street or private easement
in a form acceptable to the Planning Board Solicitor.
I. Screening. The base of towers or other personal wireless
service facilities must be screened on all sides from public view
by the use of opaque fencing to a height of six feet, or evergreen
shrubbery, or both, wherein such screening shall be approved by the
Board, considering aesthetic, type, location, and other such factors.
The screen must be designed, installed and maintained so as to prevent
the tower or facility from being seen from a public right-of-way and
from adjacent residential and commercial properties at ground level.
J. Signage. No signs and/or billboards of any kind shall
be erected or placed on a tower, except for “warning”
or “no trespassing” signs, which may be placed at the
base of the structure. No part of the tower, antennas, fixtures, or
instrument attached to the tower may have any written copy, design,
logo, or other graphic image that could be construed as an advertisement.
K. Lighting. No tower may be artificially lighted or
illuminated, except when required by the FAA.
L. Structural integrity. The owner of any communications
tower within the Borough of Brooklawn shall undertake periodic inspections
of towers to ensure their structural integrity, i.e., at least once
every 10 years for monopole towers and once every five years for self-supporting
towers. Inspections shall be conducted by a qualified engineer licensed
by the State of New Jersey. The certified results of such inspections
shall be provided to the Borough Engineer who shall advise the governing
body regarding any required repairs and/or reconstruction or, if necessary,
the removal of a tower.
M. Abandonment. In the event that a tower is left unused
for a period of more than six months, the tower shall be determined
to be abandoned and deemed a potential threat to public safety. Upon
due notice to the owner of the tower, the Borough may place a lien
on the property for required engineering and demolition costs or may
acquire the property through eminent domain.
The applicant must submit a site plan to the
Planning Board of the Borough of Brooklawn and receive its approval
for all new antennas or tower facilities. The Board may waive formal
site plan submission for antennas proposed to be mounted on an existing
tower, tall building, or structure. Such site plan shall be submitted
in six copies, be prepared, signed, and sealed by a professional engineer
licensed in the State of New Jersey, and shall include an identification
of the location and size of the proposed property, as well as engineering
drawings indicating the proposed use and its method of support and
foundations, the method of construction, materials to be used, height
of all structures, required setbacks and fall zone of the proposed
tower, collocation documentation, maintenance information, and required
screening. The applicant is required to obtain a building permit prior
to the installation and erection of the approved use; however, no
building permit may be used nor may installation or construction of
the approved use occur in the absence of site plan approval or waiver
by the Planning Board.