BELMAR — Belmar residents once again demanded action on the impending 5G Verizon cell tower construction during the borough council meeting Tuesday night.
A total of 14 residents took the microphone during the hour long public comments session to address concerns about the proposed construction of 20 35-foot towers down Ocean Avenue, which had also been a point of contention at the previous council meeting.
Although it was not listed on the meeting agenda, Mayor Gerald Buccafusco was able to provide an update on the matter. The mayor reported that he and Borough Administrator Kevin Kane had a Zoom meeting last week with representatives from New Jersey Legislative District 30, who were interested in the borough’s situation and are aware of similar instances happening in other areas.
According to the mayor, the borough’s administration already had a meeting scheduled with Verizon representatives the very next day. He explained that Mr. Kane had reached out to the governor’s office and the borough was able get in touch with Verizon for the meeting. A representative from the Legislative District was also able to attend this meeting.
Mayor Buccafusco said that they did their best to advocate the community’s concerns about the tower construction but “the bottom line is that there really was no movement on their part.”
“We’ve been working this for a while,” Mr. Kane said. They had tried to ask what exactly the cellular company was looking to accomplish with the tower construction and what would be the most efficient way to go about it, according to Mr. Kane “We really didn’t make any headway with that.”
Caitlin Donovan, another resident who approached the council, told the audience that she had created a Change.org petition, titled “Stop Verizon Towers on Belmar Beach,” to gather public support against the construction after reading the settlement agreement online that morning.
The Change.org petition was quickly spread among the gathered residents and was also posted to the “Belmar Locals” Facebook Page before the end of the meeting. As of Wednesday morning, the petition had over 200 signatures.
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