Politics & Government

Cell Tower Ordinance for Oradell Delayed Again

New issues have postponed the introduction until the end of the month

Plans to introduce a new ordinance outlining where a future cell tower in the borough of Oradell has been delayed once again. The Mayor and Council will now take up the proposed ordinance at a future meeting.

“It’s a refinement of what we have now,” Council President Joseph Murray said. Murray has been working with the Ordinance Committee for the past year to create an ordinance. “When discussing the ordinance with the building inspector, additional issues were raised and we would like to make some revisions so that they don’t become major issues.”

A final draft will be sent to the governing body sometime next week once last minute revisions are made. The changes are due to missing information that the borough engineer and planner felt needed to be added, according to Borough Administrator/Borough Clerk Laura Graham. 

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Previously the borough had a on cell tower applications in place but it . The moratorium was instituted in November to give Murray and the Ordinance Committee time to put a set of proposed regulations together and locate an to assist in the process. But even though a Request for Qualifications was sent out and the borough received two responses, a consultant was never hired by the governing body.

The borough currently has a 90-foot cell tower located at the DPW yard, but for the past few years Verizon has proposed several sites to the Council for a along the Kinderkamack Road corridor.

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The last time Verizon appeared before the Council, representatives had suggested a cell tower concealed as a 150-foot flagpole outside of Borough Hall.

Prior to their last visit, the cellular company had suggested placing the tower at Memorial Field or splitting the town with a pair of towers at the Oradell Swim Club and Senior Citizen's/Veteran's Building. All three options were later eliminated due to protected wetlands near the sites.

Previously the council approved a resolution in February to explore bringing an additional cell tower to the borough.


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