By Stephen Appezzato
As Verizon looks to increase 5G coverage in Monmouth County, county commissioners heeded residents’ concerns about the telecommunication infrastructure.
In a recent meeting, the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution that authorized legal counsel to review a 1996 federal law that rewrote telecom industry guidelines for the country and dictated infrastructure placement within the county.
The resolution comes in the wake of a battle ensuing in Belmar between residents and Verizon, a telecom giant in the process of expanding its 5G – fifth-generation wireless – coverage across the nation. In the past few months, Belmar residents and its borough council have voiced concerns over the proposed placement of 20 5G towers along the beachfront. Residents have organized a grassroots movement against the proposed infrastructure through community engagement and direct action.
According to Belmar Against 5G Towers, the “potential health risks associated with 5G technology are not yet fully understood.” Residents also call the proposed 35-foot-tall towers an eyesore that could decrease surrounding property values.
Among many in the public arena, the debate over the safety of 5G persists. Some argue that the 5G signal may pose a threat to public health due to the higher frequency (shorter wavelength) signal the technology uses, pointing to the lack of peer-reviewed research on its long-term health effects. However, the Federal Communications Commission has not identified a need to revise radiofrequency exposure standards so far. Currently, the World Health Organization and the Food and Drug Administration recognize the technology as safe.
After the battle garnered significant media coverage, the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners stepped in, validating the concerns of residents across the county over local 5G expansion, unanimously passing resolution 2023-0544.
“The placement of 5G monopoles was recently brought to the attention of the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners by residents in Belmar, however, this is an issue that could affect the entire County because of health and environmental concerns,” said Commissioner Director Thomas Arnone in a statement.
According to Arnone, county residents have expressed concerns over “the possible deleterious effects of the tower signal’s effect on human health,” as well as the environmental impact that monopoles could have on animal habitats.
The county will also create a new master plan regarding the placement and location of 5G monopoles “as a way to balance the federal law’s requirement to ‘provide complete coverage’ with the adverse impacts a project like this could create,” Arnone explained, referring to the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
The federal law deregulated the telecommunications industry and was designed to swiftly expand wireless coverage and spur technological innovation in the field. Because of the deregulation, larger providers easily bought out small and local competitors, creating what some consider to be monopoles in the industry.
The Telecommunications Act prohibits local legislators from altogether banning the construction or placement of infrastructure in a particular area. This makes it difficult for local governments to challenge corporations expanding in their town.
In Sea Bright, wireless providers recently expressed interest in constructing wireless infrastructure in the borough to upgrade existing 4G service and expand 5G coverage. In response, the borough council passed an ordinance establishing procedures and guidelines for the placement of the equipment in public rights-of-way. The ordinance was passed “in the best interest of the borough and the health, safety and welfare of its residents and visitors,” according to the text, and may have been prompted by Belmar residents’ movement against 5G towers coming to the shore.
In recent years, a similar movement against the expansion of 5G occurred in Little Silver, where residents organized against a new cellular tower located downtown. However, the borough was unable to prevent the installation of the monopole.
The actions of the county commissions may outline a unified regulation on 5G expansion in the county for the future.
The article originally appeared in the July 27 – August 2, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
