OCEAN CITY — A pair of brothers continued their appeal to convince Ocean City Council not to allow a 125-foot cell tower in the 3300 block of Bay Avenue.
Three Sirianni brothers appeared at the May 7 City Council meeting, during which they presented a petition with some 535 signatures asking the city to reconsider. Two of them were back at the June 11 meeting, offering numerous potential other sites and arguing the city’s own ordinance on placement should prompt council to find another location.
Tom Sirianni told council his brother Gregory, who wasn’t at the meeting, drove around and found 91 other structures that could hold a cell phone antenna. Of those, 81 were telephone poles; the rest were other structures.
“There are other options out there,” he said. “All those options need to be vetted” before the city goes ahead and allows Verizon Wireless (operating as Cellco) to build that tower near the corner of Bay Avenue.
A few years ago, the Planning Board denied the application for the cell tower atop the former Compass building at 34th Street and Haven Avenue, but Cellco appealed in federal court, alleging the city was in violation of the Federal Telecommunications Act because cell phone companies have rights as quasi-utilities.
To settle the lawsuit, according to city solicitor Dorothy McCrosson in her report to council in April 2025, Ocean City spent almost a year reviewing properties where a cell tower could be built. The city initially considered the corner of Bay Avenue and 34th Street, where the city has a lifeboat on display, but that did not work out. The city instead settled on the lot where the former American Legion post was located.
Sirianni said the city’s ordinance prefers the use of existing structures for a cell phone antenna and that after council members suggested they come up with possible solutions, they did.
He suggested the best solution would be to put it near 45th Street, where there is a fire station and water tower nearby. He said that not only would that meet Verizon’s needs, it would actually expand the 5G coverage from Longport to the north and Sea Isle City to the south.
Sirianni said his brother consulted with a bandwidth expert who would be willing to verify his findings for a small fee.
Brother Archie Sirianni said there is a misconception about the danger from cell phone signals, that they are incredibly low energy — a million times below the threshold of what causes cellular damage in humans. He contrasted that with high-energy gamma waves.
Another speaker at the meeting said the 33rd and Bay location was not appropriate because of the danger it posed if a 125-foot tower went down because if it fell that way, it could block 34th Street, one of the two official evacuation routes in the city during emergencies.
“You have the ability to reconsider,” Tom Sirianni said. “We’re just asking you to vote” and “do more due diligence” “or move it to 45th Street and get greater bandwidth.”
Council took no action.
Quicker responses
from City Council?
During public comment, citizen Ed Dixon suggested a closer relationship between the public and City Council.
“When a question is asked” during public comment, he said, “it is better answered face to face.”
City Council’s policy is to listen to public comment, but makes clear there will be no immediate response and that the public comment period is not a question-and-answer session. Often when people pose questions, council President Terry Crowley Jr. advises them to address council members after the meeting.
There are times when members of the administration will respond to public comment at the meeting when they believe misleading assertions are made.
Dixon said in other communities that he has visited, council and the public work together better. A member of the public asks a question in a short statement, is civil, and council responds at the time. If the council doesn’t know an answer, it will respond at the following meeting.
“This promotes more respect for the public and council,” he said, suggesting the city consider a trial period.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff