OVERVIEW
The City of Golden is seeking to acquire property on Lookout Mountain that has been identified for park and open space uses for more than 100 years.  This property was first planned for park purposes by the designer of New York’s Central Park, Frederick Law Olmstead.  It has also been identified for years by City and Jefferson County open space plans as critical to the protection of the mountain backdrop of the Front Range.  Golden’s acquisition of the property would connect large existing parks owned by the County, Golden and the City of Denver, greatly expanding recreational opportunities for residents of the entire region, as well as visitors.

Lake Cedar Group (LCG), comprised of the major Denver television broadcasters (Channels 4, 7, 9 and 20), wants to build a new HDTV tower on this mountaintop just outside of Golden.  There is widespread opposition to this proposal in Golden and in Jefferson County.  Both Jefferson County and the state district court have found that LCG’s proposal does not meet County zoning requirements designed to protect public safety, health and welfare, an issue which is still in litigation.  Indeed, the County has rejected multiple proposals to permit new towers on Lookout Mountain.  Nevertheless, LCG continues to pursue only the Lookout Mountain option, despite this proposed tower’s clear incompatibility and interference with open space and thousands of nearby residents, businesses and scientific research facilities, and despite the fact that the broadcasters can use other sites for excellent HDTV signals.

Neither the City nor County is attempting to stop HDTV service for the Denver area.  Only LCG is doing so, by failing to follow the lead of its sister stations and locating its antennae at sites with more compatible neighboring uses.  Had LCG worked with the City and others to choose a site other than Lookout Mountain, Denver would probably have full-signal HDTV service today. The City has offered to work with LCG without success.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is Golden Seeking to Acquire the Property To Stop the Tower?
No.  Golden’s primary interest is to ensure that neighboring land uses are compatible with each other and put to their highest and best use.  For more than 100 years, local plans have identified the LCG site and the mountain backdrop as important park and open space property.  The values of this property would be destroyed by any intensive land use, be it a tower or any other industrial land use.  No one would expect that the City or County would encourage a refinery, power plant or other similar use to be placed prominently over the City and at the very gateway to the Rockies that most tourists see when traveling westbound on I-70 or State Highway 6.  Golden believes that the best and fairest way to ensure this property is used in the manner in which it has been historically planned is to acquire it by paying fair market value.

How Have the City and County Planned for the Use of this Property?
The City identified the top and eastern face of Lookout Mountain as desired conservation open space at least as far back as its 1993 Comprehensive Plan, which was reaffirmed in 2003.  Similarly, the County’s 1994 Central Mountains Community Plan indicated that the “scenic vista of the Mountain Backdrop is appropriately a top priority for Jefferson County Open Space.”  It specifically identified the property Golden seeks to acquire as recommended open space and identified a trail through the property as one of its priorities for regional recreational trails.  The County reaffirmed in 2003 that this property was one of its “priority protection areas.”

Are LCG’s Existing Towers Compatible with Zoning and Nearby Uses?
No.  LCG’s proposed tower site has never been zoned for use by telecommunications towers.  Instead, it is zoned for mountain residential and agricultural uses.  The LCG towers currently on Lookout Mountain are incompatible uses, which LCG cannot expand or alter.  These towers constitute an industrial use that is set in the midst of thousands of homes, many of which were located on Lookout Mountain prior to any of the towers’ erection.

Can LCG Simply Use Its Existing Towers for Digital TV Service? Isn’t Golden Missing a Chance to Replace Four Towers with One?
Although LCG contends that it can use its existing towers’ antennae for digital service without any further permission from the County, LCG’s argument is suspect both legally and technically.  First, changing the use of their towers would be inconsistent with their nonconforming use status, which Colorado law requires to be strictly construed against expansion.  The City maintains that changing use from analog television service to digital television service constitutes a change in use under Colorado law. 

Second, the antennae on at least some of the towers are inconsistent with providing quality digital signals, making it very unlikely that all four towers could still be used. 

Third, LCG does not have FCC approval to use its existing analog channels for digital service, having been assigned different channels.  Indeed, Congress just recently designated the date to auction some of these frequencies for different uses. 

Thus, some or all of these existing towers will be removed regardless of LCG’s assertions otherwise.  Even if some are used on an interim basis for HDTV, there would almost certainly be lower levels of emitted radiation than currently or with the new tower.  Trading four nonconforming towers that will need to be eliminated when obsolete for a permanent tower closer to the City is not a good trade.

What are the Potential Radiation Impacts of LCG’s Proposed Tower?
Both an independent expert hired by Jefferson County to assess the towers and experts affiliated with local homeowners have testified to the County that LCG’s tower would increase levels of radiation north, south and east of the tower – where the majority of residents live.
The Director of Jefferson County’s Health Department, Dr. Mark Johnson, testified that, in light of uncertainties about the effects of radiofrequency radiation, the prudent thing to do would be to site towers away from the areas of greatest population and minimize public exposure to radiation. 

Unlike other available tower sites, Lookout Mountain is unique in that the tower would be located near hundreds of residents at the same elevation as the main tower beam (and thousands of others nearby), raising serious questions about these homeowners’ property rights.  These owners will be subjected to more intense electronic interference, presenting serious concerns about potential health risks. 

In addition, increased tower radiation will increase interference with research at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) and some high-tech businesses in Golden.  Such facilities must either move experiments out of Golden or spend considerable sums to shield sensitive instruments.  A number of professors at CSM have testified to the detrimental effects of RF radiation on cutting-edge research.  LCG would seek to create a high-tech dead zone in the heart of Jefferson County for the sake of a few of jobs to maintain a tower.     
 
Are There Alternative Tower Sites?
Yes.  The most obvious alternative site is west of Lookout Mountain on Squaw Mountain in neighboring Clear Creek County.  While the site is not favored by LCG because it already owns the Lookout Mountain site and wants to avoid costs, it is considerably better suited for HDTV use because it is already zoned for tower use.  Indeed, it has been used by PBS station KBDI for digital service for more than two years.  FCC data shows that its coverage area includes all of the Denver, Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs metro areas. 

LCG contends that it cannot use the Squaw Mountain site because it will produce broadcast shadows.  However, LCG’s argument is based on computer modeling that assumes that televisions will need signals with 10,000 times more power than the FCC requires.  Using more reasonable assumptions, independent computer modeling showed only a 3% difference in households that could receive a signal from Squaw Mountain compared to Lookout Mountain.  Further, KBDI has shown conclusively – based on real experience – that good regional service is possible from Squaw Mountain.  Any minor shadowing that may occur can be remedied with a small number of repeater stations – which can be mounted on cell towers requiring very weak signals in Boulder, Golden and southern Jefferson County.  In fact, LCG stations already rely on such repeater stations to cover shadows from Lookout Mountain analog towers.
 

THE FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE OF LOCAL LAND USE CONTROL
LCG would strip local governments of their ability to control the placement of new or expanded land uses, expanding federal control from operational towers.  This unreasonably shifts the balance of planning from local governments to the federal government.  Golden agrees that local governments should not completely block digital TV service in a metro area, but that is not the issue here.  Clear Creek County has approved HDTV use on Squaw Mountain and Jefferson County has approved it on nearby Mount Morrison, both are sites with fewer nearby residents than Lookout Mountain.  The federal government should not allow broadcasting corporations to site towers without regard to local land use plans and the reasonable property interests of other landowners, and consideration of the safety and welfare of thousands of residents and businesses.