Golden – A rezoning approved Monday should foster a spirit of cooperation over monitoring construction of a digital-TV broadcast tower on Lookout Mountain, officials said.
“This opens the door to having a cooperative relationship with county government,” said Marv Rockford, spokesman for a consortium of local TV stations that plans to build the 730-foot- high tower.
Rockford said the consortium, called Lake Cedar Group, has “no intention of deviating from commitments we made nearly four years” ago as part of the land-use process.
Lake Cedar has begun work on the tower to meet a federal deadline to broadcast high- definition TV to metro Denver residents by February 2009.
Saying they felt trumped by a quickly passed federal law, Jefferson County commissioners said they will work to enforce building and zoning codes.
“The best way to manage this is to affirm the previous board’s approval and continue to monitor compliance with building codes authorized by the official development plan,” Commissioner Kevin McCasky said of agreements reached in 2003.
Commissioner Kathy Hartman said she was “not exactly thrilled” to find the federal government saying the county did not have jurisdiction.
Commissioner Jim Congrove said he doesn’t believe the federal law – introduced late in the 2006 session by Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar of Colorado – pre-empts local control.
“This is not in our best interest,” said Deb Carney, attorney for the homeowner association umbrella group Canyon Area Residents for the Environment.
CARE and the city of Golden have appealed the rezoning in Jefferson County District Court, citing concerns about health effects and tower failure.
Carney said CARE has filed a 10th Amendment local government rights challenge with the court. Golden officials “will huddle” about possible actions, said city attorney Jim Windholz.
