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C.A.R.E. in the News

Golden Makes Bid for TV Group's Property
December 22, 2005 - The Denver Business Journal

The city of Golden has offered to buy a piece of controversial property on Lookout Mountain from a group of Denver TV stations for $1.68 million with the intention of turning the land into open space.

The Golden City Council has approved condemnation proceedings if the property owner, Lake Cedar Group, refuses to sell.

The Lake Cedar Group is a consortium of local TV stations -- Channel 4-KCNC, Channel 7-KMGH, Channel 9-KUSA, and Channel 20-KTVD-TV -- that has been trying since 1998 to build a HD tower on Lookout Mountain that would replace four existing analog towers.

Television stations were federally mandated in the 1990s to switch transmission from analog to HD digital technology, but Denver is one of the last major markets in the country to provide free over-the-air, high-definition broadcasting.

Objections to the tower have been lead by a neighborhood group called CARE (Canyon Area Residents for the Environment) -- representing residents in the Lookout Mountain area that cite health concerns from the level of broadcast frequencies that could come from the new tower.

Proponents for the tower say the replacement will be better visually on the mountainside because it replaces four existing towers, has a lower frequency and would sit on property where a radio and television antennae farm has existed for 50 years.

The previous Jefferson County Commissioner (the property sits in Jefferson County) approved the new HD tower, but the decision was challenged by CARE in the First Judicial District Court. It was then sent back to the current Jeffco board which denied a portion of the plan, sending it back to court again.

Still No Decision in Towers Flap
September 1, 2005 - Mile High News.com
Article written by Amanda C. Sutterer

A 730-foot telecommunications tower falling onto homes. A wire whipping into a residential neighborhood. Some 3,400 pounds of debris rolling onto U.S. Highway 6.

These nightmare scenarios are not Hollywood plot lines.
They are some of the real concerns voiced by opponents
of an approved telecommunications tower on Lookout Mountain.

The Lake Cedar Group, a consortium of local television stations, wants to replace several existing towers on
Lookout Mountain with one 730-foot tower. The new tower would provide digital and analog signals for the metro area. Opponents say it would also increase radiation 20-fold,
lower property values and could adversely affect more residents than the existing towers.

Andrew Morton of Golden listens to public comment during Jefferson County Commissioners meeting on the proposed communications tower for Lookout Mountain. Morton and other citizens packed the main hearing room
at the Jefferson County Administration and Courts Facility Aug. 30, 2005.

Photo by CHRIS STARK

The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners approved the tower in 2003, but a judge has twice returned the case to the county on appeal.

The commissioners revisited the case Tuesday, but those addressing the board could only discuss the setback between the proposed tower and nearby homes.

The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners will continue the Lookout Mountain tower rezoning case and make a decision Sept. 27.

In a packed hearing room filled with local residents wearing T-shirts with the words “Super Community” and “Tower Proposal — NO,” the Lake Cedar Group argued its case again.

Lake Cedar Group spokesman Marv Rockford said the tower’s predicted fall pattern would not be a threat to nearby residents because the plans create an “extra margin of safety.”

“The tower would never fall straight over,” Rockford said. “ But if it did, it wouldn’t reach far enough to reach an occupied dwelling.”

Rockford added that if the proposal isn’t approved, nothing would change.

“The existing towers will remain and they and will be converted from analog to digital by changing to analog and ... not require county approval,” Rockford said.

Deb Carney, an attorney representing the Canyon Area Residents for the Environment, said a conversion of the existing towers would be in violation of FCC regulations.

“The FCC said analog television is to cease,” Carney said.

Carney added that towers have historically been a threat to public safety.

“There have been over 240 broadcast tower failures and 95 percent of these were guy cable towers. That is an extraordinary rate,” she said.

Alfred Hislop, a Lookout Mountain resident and electrical engineer, created a 3-D scale model
of the proposed site.

Hislop said towers can “fall like trees” and that their falling radii can “can go to 110 percent.”
Hislop said guy wires could also pose a serious threat to residents.

Rockford said LCG purchased all property within the fall radius to comply with the current zoning resolution. Carney disputed the claim, arguing residences remain in the area, which is a zoning violation.

“We have good reason to believe that there is a side agreement where people get to continue to dwell on the property rent-free,” Carney said. “ ... If that is true, then the setback is violated.”

Penny and Jim Maller, residents of Lookout Mountain for almost 11 years, said they hope the new proposed tower isn’t approved and that the existing ones are moved to Squaw Mountain in Clear Creek County.

To read the article on Mile High News.com, click here...

Golden adds twist to TV tower dispute
8/30/05 - Adam Schrager 9NEWS Reporter

GOLDEN - The city of Golden has offered to buy property on Lookout Mountain where Denver's
main television stations, including 9News, want to build a new broadcasting tower. The City Manager says if the stations won't sell, Golden will exercise its powers of eminent domain and seize the land for open space. "We think the price will be well worth their while to sell to us," said
Golden City Manager Mike Bestor. "(If the stations won't sell), we'll take it. We'll use our powers
of eminent domain and we'll go to court." Colorado's General Assembly had recently passed a law prohibiting cities from using eminent domain for open space outside its borders, but the city of Telluride sued and a District Court Judge ruled the law was unconstitutional. Telluride and the prospective developers of its adjacent Valley Floor property have since settled and the case was never appealed.

9News and Channels 4, 7 and 20 are represented by an organization called The Lake Cedar Group. The group is seeking to build one 730-foot so-called "super tower" to comply with federal government requirements to send digital signals by January 2009. In exchange, the stations will remove three large existing towers and numerous smaller ones currently placed on Lookout Mountain. A statement released by the Lake Cedar Group this afternoon criticizes Golden's position.
"Once citizens of Golden understand the cost associated with this proposal, they'll come to the
obvious conclusion that this is not a good use of taxpayer money," the statement reads. "This is an effort by Golden to take away the decision-making authority of the Jefferson County Commissioners to make land-use decisions. The Jefferson County Commissioners are in the best position to make this land-use decision." The Commissioners held a final public hearing on the matter Tuesday. Two
times previously, they have approved construction of the tower only to have a Jefferson County District Court Judge send it back to them for further clarification. Their final vote is set for September 27.

The intent to buy the land was communicated in a letter from Bestor to Lake Cedar Group attorneys yesterday. Bestor says his city's move ensures the land will not be available for any future development. "This is really a critical piece of property for open space purposes," said Bestor.
"If you look around Golden, what makes Golden cool is undeveloped mountains. We feel this move is consistent with the will of our community and the will of most of the citizens of Colorado. They'd like to look at mountains, not at development."
Copyright © 2006 C.A.R.E. - All Rights Reserved.