By Liz McBreen
The three antennas that are on the roof of the building now would be removed before the new ones are installed.
James Scott, the attorney representing Omnipoint, explained that there is a need for the antennas because there have been a rise in the number of blocked calls in the surrounding area. The new antennas will service three carriers-Sprint, Nextel and Omnipoint. According to Scott, a call is blocked when all the resources provided by a carrier are exhausted, and a call is denied. The new antennas would be of a different type than the original, and would allow for a larger number of calls to be made successfully.
The existing facilities cannot sustain all of the phone traffic, and the carriers are exceeding the industry standards for call blockage. Scott stated that cell phone companies allow for a 2 percent blockage of calls, and the Linden Boulevard site will sometimes see 66 percent of its calls blocked.
A consultant from DNS Real Estate, Donna Marie Stippo explained that there would be little visual change to the area. "Surrounding residents on Stewart Avenue will have a scattered view of the antennas because of the tree line, and the Southern State Parkway runs behind the building." They will not be visible from Linden Boulevard, because the building is four stories high.
Paul Testarossa, a representative for Lucent Technologies conducted a study on the amount of radio frequency emitted by the proposed antennas. "They will create less than 1.5 percent of the frequency allowed by the Federal Communications Commission, and will not be harmful to the surrounding community."
Since the antennas will be installed in a commercial zone, they will not effect property values. Installation of the antennas could take several weeks, if the permit is granted.
