POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. — Half-constructed 5G “eyesore” towers in a Point Pleasant Beach neighborhood will be removed following an agreement between the borough and a developer, Mayor Doug Vitale announced.
The proposed settlement with Munisite will be presented to the borough council for approval at its Sept. 3 borough meeting, Vitale said in a Facebook post.
“The settlement provides for MuniSite’s prompt removal of its installed 5G poles, following which MuniSite’s right-of-way license agreement will terminate,” Vitale wrote. “In exchange, the District will provide MuniSite with limited compensation reflecting its actual costs incurred in installing the poles.”
The settlement comes after months of back and forth with Munisite over the possible installation of 5G poles and the start of installation in April. The five towers under construction are located on Niblick Street, Ocean Avenue, Inlet, Water Street and Broadway at the end of the Boardwalk.
Vitale said the district passed a new ordinance earlier this year regulating small wireless facilities and will now regulate 5G poles.
“This ordinance allows carriers to use the rights-of-way as required by federal law, while imposing reasonable design standards for approval by the governing agency,” he said.
The settlement came after borough officials ordered the Municipal District to remove the pillars in July after calling them an “eyesore” and challenging their aesthetics.
Vitale said at a City Council meeting in June that the municipality had received approval to begin the process of erecting utility poles in eight locations across the city in October 2023, but the district had resisted the move until 2018 when the Federal Communications Commission ruled that cellphone companies had the right to install cell phone signal infrastructure.
Munisite received its first eight CAFRA permits on Dec. 8, 2023, and were approved by the borough’s Building Department on Dec. 23. It wasn’t until April, when construction began, that officials realized the poles looked unsightly, Vitale said.
“We appreciate the public’s patience as we work to reach a settlement with Municite and thank Municite for its cooperation in reaching this negotiated outcome,” Vitale said.
