Pinelands committee recommends AT&T plan amendment to address Chatsworth coverage gap, with viewshed concerns

The Policy & Implementation Committee voted to recommend that the full Pinelands Commission certify an amendment to AT&T’s 2003 local communications facilities comprehensive plan that would replace a previously proposed site in Wharton State Forest with a new search area centered on the village of Chatsworth.

Brad, the staff presenter, said the amendment grew from a 2020 application to site a 120‑foot facility at the Woodland Volunteer Fire & EMS station in Chatsworth and that the plan retains the prior half‑mile search radius while removing the Wharton site. "There is a coverage gap in the village of Chatsworth," Brad said, and an independent radio‑frequency consultant retained by the commission confirmed that nearby facilities would not close that gap.

Staff argued the amendment meets the commission’s ‘‘least number of facilities’’ requirement because the Wharton site would be removed, meaning "there's no net increase in the number of facilities," Brad said. He stressed that certification of a comprehensive plan amendment does not approve a specific tower location; any later development application will require detailed siting, environmental and visual‑impact analyses.

Commissioners pressed staff on community and visual impacts. One commissioner said they were "not satisfied that I would support this at that time" without more information on the proposed site's effect on Chatsworth’s viewshed and downtown character, and asked whether the facility would be visible from Chatsworth Road. Brad and other staff said photo simulations and viewshed analyses will be required when AT&T submits a specific site application.

Committee members also asked technical questions about colocation and whether emerging technologies such as small‑cell or distributed‑antenna systems would change long‑term tower needs. Brad said the amendment addresses emerging technologies and that smaller systems typically serve smaller areas and are not always suitable in rural Pinelands terrain.

A committee member moved to recommend certification of the amendment to the full commission; the committee approved the motion by voice vote with no recorded oppositions or abstentions. Staff said the full commission is tentatively scheduled to consider the amendment at its next meeting and that further technical and visual analyses will be reviewed during the subsequent individual‑site application stage.

No final site permit was granted at this meeting; certification would allow AT&T to apply for a specific tower site under the commission’s development‑application process.