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Spring Lake, New Jersey, residents told their town leaders during a Tuesday hearing that they don’t want Verizon to install 5G towers along the town’s beachfront near their homes. Meanwhile, Verizon is suing the town in a bid to force its towers to go up.
by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D. | November 15, 2024 The Defender
Spring Lake, New Jersey, residents held a city hall hearing on Tuesday to fill the public record with comments opposing Verizon’s proposed installation of six 30-foot 5G towers along their town’s beachfront.
“We live in a very historic, beautiful town with a ton of character,” Kelley Badishkanian, a Spring Lake resident and grassroots organizer for Spring Lake Against 5G Towers, told The Defender. “So to come in with giant 5G telecom towers really seems out of place.”
The residents delivered their public record comments in hopes of equipping town leaders with “ammunition” for denying Verizon’s permit application to install the towers along the town’s Ocean Avenue, Badishkanian said.
In January, Verizon filed an application as part of its ongoing efforts to install 5G towers all along the New Jersey shore. On Nov. 8, the telecom giant sued Spring Lake in federal court in a bid to push its 5G tower plans through despite local resistance.
It’s the third lawsuit Verizon has filed in Monmouth County in its quest to install 5G towers on the New Jersey shore.
Verizon first sued Belmar — a town roughly three miles from Spring Lake — on May 10, 2021, in an attempt to install its towers on the town’s boardwalk. On Sept. 21, 2023, Verizon sued Monmouth County — where Belmar and Spring Lake are located — after realizing the land in question was under the county’s jurisdiction and after county officials on Aug. 8, 2023, denied the company’s project application.
Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) & Wireless team, which provided legal support to the Belmar residents in their ensuing legal battle, also is providing legal support to Spring Lake residents.
Verizon’s suit against Spring Lake alleges the town “unreasonably delayed” and “effectively denied” its application.
Verizon filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The telecom giant asked the court for injunctive relief so the town can’t prevent the company from erecting its 5G towers in Spring Lake.
Badishkanian said she was taken aback by Verizon’s lawsuit. “I think a lot of people in our group were,” she said. “It was a pretty aggressive move.”
But W. Scott McCollough, chief litigator for CHD’s EMR & Wireless cases, told The Defender he wasn’t surprised. “I figured Verizon would likely do this.” He said he found it interesting that Verizon didn’t give Spring Lake’s attorney a courtesy copy of the complaint.
Although Verizon filed the suit on Nov. 8, the town only found out about it on Nov. 11 and was served paper on Nov. 12 — the same day as the hearing, McCollough said.
Verizon and Spring Lake officials did not immediately respond to The Defender’s request for comment about the suit.
5G tower would be half a block from ‘where my children sleep at night’
McCollough described Verizon’s proposed towers as “ugly, industrial-scale monstrosities” that “don’t belong” along Spring Lake’s historic and peaceful oceanfront.
Spring Lake’s leaders and residents have generally resisted Verizon’s plans. They want to keep Spring Lake’s beachfront uncluttered, Badishkanian said. “Its simplicity is why people love it.”
CHD’s EMR team, including McCollough, will continue assisting Spring Lake residents now that their fight against the 5G cell towers is at the federal court level.
Spring Lake residents will likely intervene in the lawsuit in support of the borough, Badishkanian said. “It’ll help the borough and give us a seat at the table. So that’s the next step.”
Badishkanian — a business owner with two sons, ages 11 and 13 — said one of the proposed towers would be just half a block from her home:
“I wear a lot of different hats, but my most important role is that I’m a mom. So to have something like that so close to our house — where my children sleep at night — this was just a red line for me.
“I can’t live that close to something like that, knowing there might be potential health risks. … I love where we live and I don’t want to have to move.”
Residents who spoke at Tuesday’s hearing cited other reasons for wanting to prevent the towers from going up, including a possible decrease in property value.
Verizon contends that the towers are needed to address a gap in cell service coverage. However, the residents at the hearing presented evidence that the gap isn’t as big as Verizon claims, McCollough said. “We’re not clear that there is a gap and to the extent that there is one, it can solved other ways.”
For example, Verizon already operates wireless facilities on two water towers in Spring Lake. They could solve network problems by adding equipment to those sites, he said. “You just don’t need this stuff on the beach.”
Verizon lawsuit seeks to circumvent public opinion and process
In its lawsuit, Verizon contends that under the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) “shot clock” rules, Spring Lake officials failed to act in time to prevent Verizon from moving forward with its 5G tower plans.
The FCC’s shot clock rules “establish time frames within which State and local governments must complete their reviews.”
In Spring Lake’s situation, Verizon claims the shot clock deadline was Oct. 15. Because the town didn’t deal with Verizon’s permit application by then, Verizon believes the court should now order the town to issue the permit.
McCollough pointed out that Verizon also claims that only evidence submitted before Oct. 15 is valid — which would effectively keep out all the public comments submitted during Tuesday’s hearing.
Badishkanian said it was frustrating that Verizon didn’t want the residents’ voices to be put on the record. “They just wanted to completely circumvent that, which I don’t think is right. We live here.”
Verizon also wants to circumvent the local process that was underway for deciding whether or not to approve the application. If the town authorities now try to deny Verizon’s application, Verizon is effectively saying “it’s too late,” McCollough explained.
“We, of course, have something to say about all of that,” he added.
Congressional bill for local residents’ input on 5G needs co-sponsors
U.S. lawmakers are considering a bill that, if passed, could assist residents who don’t want to see 5G towers installed near them.
The Securing Local Communities Input in Broadband Development Act (H.R. 8082) would empower residents affected by proposed 5G projects and limit the power of telecommunication giants to steamroll community opposition, according to a press release.
In April, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) introduced the bill after listening to Belmar residents’ concerns over Verizon’s proposal to put 20 5G towers along the town’s boardwalk.
The bill would nullify two FCC regulations that unfairly favor industry by imposing “shot clocks” and other tools that limit town and county governments’ input on 5G projects, the press release said.
Badishkanian urged U.S. citizens to ask their congressional representatives to support the bill, which needs more co-sponsors to get traction. “The more support we get for this bill across various regions of the country, the better.”
It’s important that people realize that they can have a voice, Badishkanian said. “They really can make an impact to stop this.” CHD’s EMR team has been a “great partner,” she added. “They’ve really helped give us a roadmap in terms of what residents can do.”
Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D., is a reporter and researcher for The Defender based in Fairfield, Iowa.