Opponents Protest WRAT Tower Plan at Lake Como Meeting

If Lake Como refuses to allow the owners of WRAT-FM to  construct a 530-foot tower in Behrmann Park, town officials may instead end up fighting a plan to raise the radio station's existing tower downtown.

And if Lake Como officials reject any future use variance application to raise that 300-foot tower, Greater Media Inc., parent company of WRAT-FM, would take the borough to court to appeal, according to one company representative.

The legal fees associated with fighting Greater Media in New Jersey Superior Court would ultimately prove costly to Lake Como taxpayers, said Anthony Graziano, the company's real estate expert.

Instead, the borough ought to allow Greater Media to build the new tower on a 4,000-foot portion of the park situated near Margerum Avenue and 22nd, Graziano said at Tuesday night's scoping hearing on the application.

Lake Como would benefit financially because Greater Media would enter a lease agreement to pay market-rate rent to the town for use of the land, now a Green Acres-protected property, Graziano said.

"You have to look at the legal costs of fighting Greater Media over the use variance as opposed to letting us move [to Behrmann Park] and getting revenue," Graziano said during the more than five-hour hearing.

Lake Como had hosted the scoping hearing as part of its plan to apply to the state Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Green Acres program for a diversion that would allow the tower, a commercial entity, to be built on land intended solely for recreational use. 

Should Lake Como allow Greater Media to erect the tower and an unmanned ancillary building in the park, which also hosts the town's Little League,  the existing 300-foot tower at 18th and Main streets near the WRAT studios would be removed, according to Robert Shea, the company's attorney.

About four wireless carriers now co-located on the existing tower are expected to relocate their antennae to the proposed tower, if built. Altogether, the new tower could accommodate the antennae of 17 wireless carriers, Greater Media representatives said.

Lake Como officials have been trying to convince Greater Media to move the tower from its downtown area for more than six years according to borough  Attorney Bill Gallagher.

However, not everyone in Lake Como favors moving the tower to the park's southwest corner which abuts the North Jersey Coast railroad line and parts of neighboring Wall Township, Spring Lake and Spring Lake Heights.

Lake Como officials have seen the signs reading "No Tower" that dot the front lawns of homes in the town as well as the three adjacent municipalities, Gallagher said at the beginning of the hearing.

Acknowledging the sentiments of about 200 persons present, Gallagher asked those gathered to refrain from applause and catcalls while Greater Media representatives and others spoke.

Minutes later, one man in attendance disregarded Gallagher’s instructions. Impatient with the lengthy and detailed testimony by one of Greater Media's representatives, the unidentified man voiced his displeasure.

“No one cares about this!” the man called out interrupting the presentation by the tower's architect.

Gallagher quickly silenced him, and the architect continued his presentation.

Because the mayor and council will be judging the testimony presented by Greater Media representatives in deciding to pursue the diversion, members of the public could not directly address questions to those officials—only to Greater Media representatives, Gallagher said.

How building a radio transmission tower for a commercial purpose on Green Acres-protected land would serve the public good was the question posed by a few attorneys representing some of the residents.

Spring Lake Borough Attorney Joseph Colao criticized Gallagher for not having Lake Como officials lead the hearing. He accused Greater Media representatives of "hijacking" the hearing away from borough officials. State law mandates that governmental entities, not privately-owned entities seeking a DEP diversion, are to lead scoping hearings, Colao said.

“What is the compelling public need for this diversion of Green Acres property?” Colao asked.

Shea and Graziano explained that because the WRAT is a communications provider that alerts listeners through the emergency alert system, the radio station needs a higher transmissions tower to reach listeners in case of emergency.

Though it is designated as Green Acres property, the Behrmann Park site is more suitable for a higher structure, Graziano said.

Wall Township Borough Attorney Patrick McNamara joined Colao in objecting to the way Gallagher conducted the meeting.

“Greater Media is running this hearing, not Lake Como,” McNamara said.

Lake Como resident Denise O’Hara, speaking as an attorney representing herself, agreed with Colao and McNamara that the borough had unlawfully let Greater Media run the hearing.

“I plan to respectfully request that the NJDEP not consider the testimony presented by Greater Media in reviewing the application for the diversion,” O’Hara said. 

Margerum Avenue resident Gretchen Schmidhausler, in an April 20 letter read into the record by Gallagher, questioned why the borough had revised an ordinance that would permit the tower to be erected in an recreational area. Lake Como officials have pointed to the tower as a possible tax ratable.

Schmidhausler, in attendance at the hearing with many of her neighbors, asked Greater Media representatives about  a proposed access road and use of the park during the year-long construction process.

In particular, she and her neighbors are concerned about negative impact on their property values as well as noise and safety issues associated with the tower.

Transcripts of the company's testimony were expected to be on the Lake Como Borough website by the next day, Gallagher said. Those transcripts also will be sent to the NJDEP along with the application for the diversion.

 The proposed tower site is also across from Marucci Park in Spring Lake, an apartment complex in Spring Lake Heights, and near residences and commercial properties in Wall Township.