Belmar Residents Push Back Against 5G Towers

Verizon has plans to install at least 20 5G cell towers along Belmar’s scenic 1.3-mile beachfront, but residents are mounting an effort to protect the beauty, wildlife and property value of the scenic strip along Ocean Avenue, as well as the health of their community.

Verizon made the proposal to Belmar’s Town Council in August 2020 with plans to erect one cell tower at each block along the beach, including plans to use ConcealFab, a wireless infrastructure mounting and concealment solutions company, to install 5G equipment along the public right-of-way by.

In January 2021, the wireless company filed an application with Belmar to obtain necessary permits to begin the project and later filed a complaint when the town failed to meet a legally imposed deadline to approve or deny the application. In August 2022 Belmar and Verizon reached a settlement.

According to the settlement, “reasonable compensation” will be provided to the borough. This will include $108,ooo, or $270 for each new facility per year for the next 20 years, minus “the cost of all permits, approvals, professional escrow and other fees whatsoever required from the Borough, including any street operating permits, electrical permits, construction permits, etc”.

But some taxpayers are doing their own cost/benefit calculations and they’re not happy.

Caitlin Donovan and others are fighting to put a stop to this project. Donovan created BelmarAgainst5GTowers.com and has galvanized her community to oppose the 35 foot cell towers, which threaten to impact health, wildlife, aesthetics and property value. Her website notes:

“Hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific articles point to health risks with 5G technology. In 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must reexamine its health and safety guidelines for 5G and other wireless technologies in light of this research.”

Indeed, EMF-emitting technologies, including 5G are linked to cancer (particularly gliomas and acoustic neuromas) and fertility issues. Research linking radiofrequency (RF) radiation to thyroid tumors, oxidative stress, DNA damage, sperm damage, leaks in the blood-brain barrier, and cognitive impairment suggest that these towers could pose a formidable threat to the local community. You can learn more about the potential health impacts of wireless technology here.

Furthermore, EMF’s have been shown to be a biologically active environmental pollutant that adversely impact life forms ranging from plants and animals to insects and bacteria. From Reviews on Environmental Health:

“Numerous studies across all frequencies and taxa indicate that current low-level anthropogenic EMF can have myriad adverse and synergistic effects, including on orientation and migration, food finding, reproduction, mating, nest and den building, territorial maintenance and defense, and on vitality, longevity and survivorship itself. Effects have been observed in mammals such as bats, cervids, cetaceans, and pinnipeds among others, and on birds, insects, amphibians, reptiles, microbes and many species of flora. Cyto- and geno-toxic effects have long been observed in laboratory research on animal models that can be extrapolated to wildlife.”

Belmar is a known nesting site for several endangered bird species, including the American oystercatcher and the piping plover, according to New Jersey’s Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program.

Lastly, as further evidence that 5G will also bring in additional surveillance, the settlement suggests that cameras may go up along with each cell tower:

“Verizon shall permit the Borough to install, at the Borough’s cost and expense, a camera on each of the twenty poles. Verizon will run a coaxial cable within the pole to accommodate the Borough’s cameras provided the specifications for the coaxial cable is provided by the Borough to Verizon in advance of the pole installation.”

So far, Donovan’s online petition to “Stop Verizon Towers on Belmar Beach” has nearly 3,000 signatures.

She is now encouraging neighboring communities to learn from her experience. Donovan told News 12 New Jersey:

“I think the shore towns should really know that Verizon wants people to think that they don’t have options. That the federal law says they get to do whatever they want and that they should just say yes and sign on the dotted line. And that’s not true. There are legal avenues to push back and to restore the character of our towns.”

While some legal avenues have been pursued, local leadership seem to be missing the bigger picture.

Per the advice of telecommunications attorney Peter Lupo, the mayor and council have supplemented two borough ordinances. Belmar Mayor Buccafusco says Ordinance 2023-09 will “protect us more and give us more flexibility when dealing with these telecommunications companies.”

However, the “flexibility” afforded by this ordinance simply required Verizon to use existing infrastructure rather than erecting new poles. This does nothing to mitigate the health and environmental concerns of residents.

And efforts to rollout of 5G are only accelerating.

In November 2022, AT&T invested more than $1.1 billion in their networks in New Jersey in Atlantic, Middlesex, Monmouth, Hunterdon, Union, and Warren Counties

Furthermore, H.R. 3557, aka the American Broadband Act of 2023, threatens to eliminate all state and local control of cell tower and small cell placements. The proposed bill would usurp local authority to manage public rights-of-way and land use decisions in favor of cable, wireless, and telecommunications providers. Learn more about this massive federal power grab and take action here.

Now is the time to act.

Learn about how other communities are fighting back here. 

Click here to Stop Verizon Towers on Belmar Beach.
Click here to tell your elected officials to oppose H.R. 3557, the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023.