MAHWAH — The Township Council has unanimously approved an amendment to its contract with Wireless Edge to offer a two-year rent abatement to carriers willing to attach their antennas to a temporary cell tower on Fire Company 3 property.

The abatement offer requires carriers to remain once a permanent tower receives state approvals. Carriers would then retroactively pay back rent minus costs over a five- to 10-year period.

The amendment is to "advance the immediate public safety communication and the urgent resident cellphone communication needs during the temporary period," Township Attorney Brian Campion said.

The deal follows pleadings at the last council meeting from residents of a 2-mile-wide dead zone on the township's northern border to install some kind of transmission structure to facilitate cellphone use during the coronavirus emergency.

"The incentive is for carriers to enter a permanent long-term agreement with a 24-month rent abatement for location on a temporary pole at the beginning of the agreement," Campion said Wednesday. "Wireless Edge will fund all costs for installation and operation of the temporary tower."

The original contract allowed temporary as well as permanent towers, but "the terms were not fully defined," Campion said.

"The amendment revises the terms and costs," he said.

The council is hoping the amendment will attract carriers that have so far hesitated to sign up for a permanent tower approved for the firehouse on Rozanski Lane in October. The council resolution attributes this hesitation to two factors:

The state Department of Environmental Protection has declared part of the property protected wetlands with an expanded buffer that would minimize where a permanent tower can be placed.

Residents of a neighboring property filed two adjudicatory hearing requests with the DEP in January, claiming that additional off-site wetlands near the property's border have a similar value and overlapping buffer area that might all but eliminate a buildable site at the firehouse. The township is also challenging this assertion, but it, too, is delaying the approval process.

Because a temporary tower has fewer regulatory hurdles than a permanent structure, Campion projected a three-month turnaround time once the carriers sign on with a "slight shift" in the location of the tower. He estimated its height at 125 feet.

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Residents asked about the possibility of installing a temporary cell on wheels, or COW. However, Mayor John Roth said this alternative was also "complicated."

"A COW can only handle one carrier," Roth said. "You have to get the carriers to agree."

Campion added that there were also questions about whether a cell on wheels would be tall enough to clear the tree line surrounding the firehouse to provide the "line of sight lineup" necessary for transmission.

"We are really going all-in here to try to encourage people to get behind the temporary tower," said Business Administrator Quentin Wiest.

Marsha Stoltz is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stoltz@northjersey.com Twitter: @marsha_stoltz