Action Alerts!

ACT NOW to invite our Congresspeople to a public policy education briefing on RF radiation.

Janet Newton, President
The EMR Policy Institute
P.O. Box 117
Marshfield VT  05658
Tel. & FAX:  802-426-3035
JNewton@emrpolicy.org
www.emrpolicy.org 

Deb Carney of C.A.R.E. is the VP of the EMP Policy Institute.  

Letter Campaigns - Click on the following links for more information on getting involved.

NEW! Let the Commissioners know your opinion on the Lake Cedar Group Proposal (Stop the Proliferation of Antennae Towers on Lookout Mountain Campaign)

New Administration Requests Input on JeffCo Telecom Policies Campaign

PLEASE. We need your help in showing the County Commissioners the strength of community opposition to this tower. Help us by taking the time to write a letter or send an email (or both) to the commissioners. It is important that the commissioners receive mail from concerned citizens.

Here’s How to Do Your Part:

Direct your letters to:

Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Congrove, District 1
Jefferson County Commissioner R. Kevin McCaskey, District 2
Jefferson County Commissioner Dave Auburn, District 3
100 Jefferson County Parkway
Golden , CO 80419

You may also email your letter(s) to: commish@jeffco.us
or use their individual emails:

Jim Congrove - District 1: commish1@jeffco.us

Kevin McCaskey - District 2: commish2@jeffco.us

Dave Auburn - District 3: commish3@jeffco.us

Additional Help and Support for our cause:

• Write a letter to the editor of the local and metro papers. Make sure to include your Name, Phone # and City if you want them published. Suggestions include:
  

The Denver Post
Attn: Open Forum
1560 Broadway
Denver, CO 80202

openforum@denverpost.com

Rocky Mountain News
Attn: Letters to the Editor
400 West Colfax
Denver, CO 80204

letters@RockyMountainNews.com

Mile High News
Attn: Golden Transcript Editorial
1000 10th Street
Golden, CO 80401

newsroom@milehighnews.com

The Canyon Courier
Attn: Letters to the Editor
27902 Meadow Drive, Suite 200
Evergreen, CO 80439

news@evergreenco.com

The Jefferson County Telecommunication policies (Zoning Resolution, Telecommunications Land Use Plan and Central Mountains Community Plan) are currently under revision. Specifically, policies regarding high power broadcasting (over 1000 mw) are being reviewed. On June 9, Jefferson County Commissioner, Dave Auburn, attended the CARE Board Meeting. Commissioner Auburn requested that the citizens provide input and feedback to the County Commissioners . Commissioner Auburn's invitation is an important opportunity for residents and businesses to let the Commissioners know of their concerns about high-powered electromagnetic broadcast radiation.

The Zoning Administrators, Tim Carl and Steve Brown intend to “brief” the County Commissioners and begin the process of revising the broadcast telecom documents. If history is any indication, this process will fail to effect any real change unless our County Commissioners exercise strong leadership to reverse the flawed policies employed by the past Commissioners Sheehan, Lawrence and Holloway. Please help these new County Commissioners enact a Broadcast Telecom Overlay District.

Please send your comments about telecommunications to:

Dave Auburn, Jim Congrove, Kevin McCasky
Jefferson County Commissioners
100 Jefferson County Pkwy
Golden , CO , 80419
commish@jeffco.us

Useful information for this correspondence about the past history, interference and health concerns is provided below, but please feel free to share your own experiences with the new commissioners.


Telecom Overlay District Would Ban More Broadcast

CARE proposes that Jeffco immediately impose a Telecom Overlay District that would ban any future broadcast telecom additions in this Mountain Backdrop area contained within the district. The community is already grossly overburdened with the radiation from this equipment and the continued expansion would eliminate the opportunity for high tech development, drive down property values, escalate health concerns and further mar the Gateway to the Rockies.

Five years ago, the previous administration gave CARE the run around when CARE proposed this Telecom Overlay District. Because the previous County Commissioners did not adopt the Telecom Overlay District, the community suffered through numerous broadcast-rezoning hearings, increased radiation and zoning violations. CARE has taken the approval of the broadcast rezoning on Mt. Morrison to the Colorado Court of Appeals and is awaiting decision. The Lake Cedar Group rezoning is in the District Court. Judge Jackson has twice ordered that portions of the case be reheard. CARE has fought the broadcaster attempts to expand their nonconforming sites in numerous Board of Adjustment hearings. CARE has also sued Jeffco over letting Channel 2 shorten it's nonconforming tower to just under 200 feet, a legal loophole that would allow it to add a 450,000 watts ERP digital antenna across from Buffalo Bill's Grave. This case is still before Judge Anderson. If the past County Commissioners had exercised leadership, none of these events need have occurred. The current policies cause an endless merry-go-round of broadcaster rezoning hearings, zoning violations, radiation and lawsuits.

Promise to Residents to Phase Out Broadcast Unfulfilled

Twelve years ago, during the last Zoning Resolution Telecom revisions, Jefferson County promised residents that high-powered broadcast on Lookout Mountain would be phased out by the enforcement of the revised zoning resolutions. Most of the TV and FM sites on Lookout are nonconforming uses. Colorado law requires that nonconforming uses be phased out of existence as rapidly as possible. Jeffco had acknowledged in zoning resolutions and hearings, the Telecommunications Land Use Plan that broadcast radiation created significant health concerns, was incompatible with surrounding land use, interfered with the electrical equipment in the neighborhood and turned down broadcasters' repeated attempts rezone either Lookout Mountain or Mt. Morrison for additional telecom.

Bad Telecom Policies of Previous Administration

Lookout Mountain was over the (inadequate) FCC Radiation Limits in 1987, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. Lax enforcement, loopholes and a previous administration that told concerned residents that they should just move if they were concerned about the radiation, have allowed ever increasing amounts of effective radiated power (ERP) to be broadcast into our neighborhood. Jeffco advises broadcasters violating the zoning that the way to “cure” the violation is to apply to rezone the property to PUD Telecommunications. The previous administration decided that the “cure” for nonconforming telecom was to rezone to allow the telecom.

Jefferson County Planning and Zoning still has no plan to phase out the broadcast radiation and nonconforming uses.

Instead, staff proposes to continue with the previous administration's faulty plans to address broadcast radiation in ways that did not work by what appear to be superficial changes in Jefferson County documents that deal with telecommunications. (The Zoning Resolution, the Central Mountains Community Plan, known as the CMCP and the Telecommunications Land Use Plan, known as the TLUP.)

Community Unfairly Burdened by Broadcast Radiation

Not surprisingly, property values have declined since the 2003 rezonings, as a result of the imminent increase in these risks to health and safety. Residents testified under oath that they were unable to sell their homes because of broadcast tower concerns. Residents have spent substantial sums trying to shield their homes from this radiation and many people have moved.
The electromagnetic radiation levels on Lookout Mountain and Mt. Morrison have been increasing dramatically even though most of Lookout Mountain is zoned residential and most of the radiation increases on Mt. Morrison are as a result of a zoning violation that has existed for many years