MANCHESTER – Have you ever been on a long, country road and your cell phone drops the call?
There are dead zones throughout the area where there are no cell towers close enough to provide service. It often happens on winding county and state highways with trees on both sides. And that’s the issue: there are trees on both sides, and not enough houses to necessitate having a cell tower.
Manchester officials discussed a future tower that will be on an acre of land near Crestwoods Village VI, by the intersection between Route 530 and Congasia Road.
“If you go down that road, there’s a five mile line where your call definitely will get dropped,” Mayor Kenneth Palmer said. “We’ve been looking to get this done for years.”
Under an agreement, a cell company will rent the land from the township. The company will also be responsible for the construction and maintenance of the tower, he said.
[adrotate banner="278"]There have been some prerequisites to getting it built, Councilman Sam Fusaro said. These included creating a sight triangle that the county wanted to make sure the traffic will be safe at the intersection with Route 530, since that is a county road. The Township Council authorized an easement and roadway dedication to the county at the most recent meeting in order to fulfill that requirement. Additionally, the New Jersey Pinelands Commissions had to review the situation.
The cell company would still have to come before the township to get their final plan approved, he said.
The cell service was so bad, that even residents were offering land to have a tower built, he added.
