Lake Como Council May Discuss WRAT Tower Tonight

Like most other Americans, residents in Lake Como fired up their grills and watched nearby fireworks displays this past Independence Day weekend. 

But tonight, borough residents living near Behrmann Park are likely to get fired up themselves as their elected officials discuss holding a second scoping hearing for a local radio station owner's plan to erect a 535-foot-high radio communications tower on the park's perimeter.

Like the first scoping hearing on June 22, tonight's Borough Council meeting could turn into a different type of pyrotechnics show once the subject of the new tower for WRAT-FM is raised.

Tonight's council agenda shows that officials are to announce a date for a follow-up scoping session on the controversial plan. Specifically, the scoping session will address a council proposal to seek a diversion from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres program that would allow the tower, a commercial entity, to be constructed on land designated as open space.

If the state DEP were to grant the diversion, Greater Media, Inc., owner of WRAT, would then seek preliminary site plan approval and use variances to raise the tower and a two-story ancilliary building upon 4,000 feet beyond centerfield in the town's Little League complex.

But the rows of prominently posted lawn signs reading "No Tower" — as seen the neighborhood bordered by 18th and 22nd Streets and Marjoram Avenue — speak volumes for the borough residents living closest to the proposed tower site.

Similar signs have been posted on lawns in neighboring Spring Lake, Spring Lake Heights, and Wall Township. Residents in portions of those communities came out to the June 22 scoping hearing to protest the possible tower construction as well.

Through the scoping hearings, Lake Como officials are to judge whether or not Greater Media makes its case that the planned tower is in the best interest of the community. Greater Media officials have stated that they need the tower in order to reach more listeners in case of a emergency situation or in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.

The radio station owner has also promised Lake Como that if they are allowed to build the structure in the park, they will remove the existing 300-foot tower now sitting at 18th and Main Street across from the borough hall and next to the Academy Charter High School. That tower has long been considered an eyesore by borough officials.

If Greater Media convinces borough officials that the tower is essential to public safety and for the good of the community, town leaders would then apply to the state DEP to use the Green Acres open space for a commercial purpose.

The lattice-designed tower would be as high as the radio station tower for WHTG-FM located at the UPS facility off Hope Road and Route 18 in Tinton Falls, borough officials have said.

Most opponents of the plan from the various towns have objected to the height of the tower and voiced concerns during the scoping session about it possibly toppling over during high winds, a tornado or hurricane. They also believe that having the tower in close proximity to their homes will cause property values to plummet.

Greater Media officials also indicated during the scoping hearing that if Lake Como does not receive DEP permission to construct the tower inside the park, it will instead seek to raise the existing one by another 300 feet. If that request is not granted, company officials have stated they would go to Monmouth County Superior Court to appeal the town's decision.

The council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at Lake Como Borough Hall.