The Jefferson County Commission abused its discretion by allowing a developer to modify its proposal for a telecommunications tower on Mount Morrison and approving those changes without allowing public comment, according to a Colorado Court of Appeals decision issued today.
The court instructed that the issue be sent back to the county commission with instructions that adequate public hearings be held, other sites for the tower be investigated, and that there be a determination that the tower conforms with the county’s land use plans.
“I hope it’s an eye-opener for them,” said Richard Westfall, lawyer for the group of local residents who appealed the tower approval. “This is a very clear, prescriptive opinion.”
The appeal was made by the Canyon Area Residents for the Environment, or CARE, a group of local residents who opposed the 135-foot-high tower proposed by Bear Creek Development Corp. It was to replace a 120-foot-tall tower and antenna.
“CARE contends the Board (of County Commissioners) abused its discretion by permitting the developers to make substantial changes to their proposal after public testimony was closed,” according to the opinion. “We agree.”
Bear Creek Development and its partner, Public Interest Communications, planned to put up a tower that would serve a group of local public TV and radio. The horizontal tower would include a gridwork with five top-mounted antennas that could accommodate four digital TV stations, up to nine FM radio stations, four analog TV stations and numerous cellphone and radio installations.
On its web site, Rocky Mountain PBS describes the broadcast services the Mount Morrison tower would provide. It says the new tower would host Rocky Mountain PBS’s digital antenna, its analog signal, plus public radio stations KVOD and KUVO, Paxson Family Channel, Catholic Television and Spanish Language Television.
Jim Schoedler, director of engineering for the Rocky Mountain PBS, said the Mount Morrison tower has no space on it for other local broadcasters, who have formed a consortium called the Lake Cedar Group.
The Lake Cedar Group includes KCNC-Channel 4, KRMA-Channel 6, KMGH-Channel 7, KUSA-Channel 9 and KTVD-Channel 20.
The city of Golden has filed a court petition to condemn the Lake Cedar Group’s site on Lookout Mountain, where they are seeking to build a 730-foot-high digital TV broadcast tower to replace three major towers and several smaller ones.
The eminent-domain filing in Jefferson County District Court seeks to seize the 70 acres to prevent development so the land can be preserved as open space.
Golden had previously offered the consortium more than $1.5 million dollars for the site.
