Could 5G towers be coming to Ocean City?

OCEAN CITY — A controversial proposal to install cellphone antennas on the roof of a commercial building on 34th Street is set to return to the Planning Board on Wednesday.

Neighbors have raised concerns about the potential health effects of the 5G towers, the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks.

The plan is for antenna on the rooftop of 3337-39 Haven Ave., what is now an office for a real estate firm. 

Several property owners in the immediate area have spoken against the proposal, both to the Planning Board and to City Council, citing concerns about the impact of the antennas on the health of children.

“I’m here to protect my kids. My grandkids. I don’t know what to do. We’re losing sleep over it. We’re heartbroken,” a neighbor told council at a recent meeting.

He suggested a taller tower would be fine.

“If we could raise it, then I’d be for it. Put it 50 feet in the air. I’d be for that. We know that 5G is important,” he said.

There have been similar concerns raised about the health effects of previous generations of cellular technology. The Federal Communications Commission has created guidelines for limiting human exposure to radio frequency fields from cellular antenna sites, and described the possibility of a member of the public being exposed to amounts above the guidelines as extremely remote.

The application is listed as a minor site plan but has drawn major interest. There are already multiple cell towers in Ocean City, including atop water towers and on the roof of the Crown Bank building on Asbury Avenue, along with other sites in the neighborhood of 34th Street. This proposal is different, some objectors say, because it is closer to the ground and therefore to the bedrooms of nearby houses.

The applicant, Verizon, shows cell coverage throughout New Jersey, with 5G  in multiple areas, including most of Ocean City. 

Warren Stilwell, an attorney for the applicant, declined to comment.

“I don’t have any authority to talk to you,” he said.

Some of those calling for Ocean City to reject the proposal mentioned the building owner, Eustace Mita, a developer and investor who has often been in the headlines, most recently over a proposal he brought to council for a high-rise hotel on the beach.

As neighbors sought city action, resident James Harris brought up the fact that Mita invested millions of dollars in Mayor Jay Gillian’s business, Wonderland Pier.

“Was he given some type of special treatment? I don’t know,” he said, drawing a rebuke from city attorney Dottie McCrosson, who suggested his comments were approaching defamation.

Harris said that was not his intent.

“I’m awfully sorry about that, if that’s the way it came across,” he said.

The comments later brought a response from Gillian, who said he has sacrificed a great deal to serve as mayor.

“If you think for one second that someone can buy me, or that I’m going to do something because it benefits me, then I would be sitting great at Wonderland right now,” Gillian said. “I am getting a little tired of the shots.”

He encouraged anyone with proof of any wrongdoing to come forward.

“In the 13 years I’ve been mayor, I’ve had more agencies look into me because somebody thinks I’m doing something wrong, and have never found anything wrong,” Gillian said.

He added that Planning Board functions like a court, and that neither council nor the mayor can interfere.

There have been several unfounded conspiracy theories surrounding 5G, including some linking the technology to the transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19. That has been described as a biological impossibility.

Several outlets have debunked concerns about the safety of 5G, but not every reputable source dismisses the potential hazards. An opinion published in Scientific American in 2019 argued there is no reason to believe 5G is safe. Gillian suggested at the meeting that 5G could be dangerous.

Those concerns have been dismissed by multiple federal agencies and the World Health Organization, which points out that billions of people use cellphones around the world.

“To date, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use,” the WHO states.

Also on the agenda for the Planning Board Wednesday is a review of plans from the Ocean City Housing Authority for a dramatic reconstruction of the homes at Pecks Beach Village, a longstanding housing project on either side of Fourth Street.

Some structures have already been removed. The application documents show 15 buildings with a total of 60 affordable units, and a new community building.