Lake Como Residents Seek to Void Tower Ordinance

When Lake Como officials voted to allow a tower over 500-feet-high to be constructed in town, they effectively put out the welcome mat for the owners of WRAT-FM to do so.

That's how Regan Stempniewicz, an attorney who lives near the site of a proposed radio station transmission tower put it to borough officials during Tuesday night's council meeting.

Now Stempiewicz and several of her neighbors want borough officials to pull the welcome mat out from under Greater Media, Inc, the WRAT's parent company, by repealing the ordinance.  

By approving the ordinance on May 3, the council has taken the first step to accommodate Greater Media's plan to build the 533-foot-high structure on borough-owned land in Behrmann Park, Stempniewicz said.

"You might want to make sure that the ordinance is not in effect because Greater Media is going to want build anywhere it can," said Stempiewicz as she read from a prepared statement. "And you might as well make sure that you have not left the welcome mat outside."

Meanwhile, Denise O'Hara, another attorney living near the park, has filed a motion to intervene in a civil suit recently filed by the Borough of Spring Lake against Lake Como officials for greenlighting the tower ordinance.

Representing herself and the newly-formed Concerned Citizens of Lake Como, O'Hara is asking the Monmouth County Superior Court in Freehold to invalidate the borough ordinance on the grounds that it violates New Jersey's municipal land use laws.

State land use laws prohibit commercial structures, such as the proposed WRAT radio station transmission tower and a two-story ancilliary building, from being constructed upon lands zoned for residential use.

The park, now protected from development by its designation as New Jersey Green Acres land, is located in a residential zone.

If the court grants the motion, O'Hara will be authorized to file a civil complaint against the borough with the goal of having the ordinance declared null and void.

The motion to intervene could be scheduled for an initial hearing on Aug. 5, O'Hara said.

The unincorporated Concerned Citizens group consists of O'Hara and several of her neighbors living near the park and in the vicinity of Margerum and 22nd avenues.

Spring Lake officials are also asking the court to nullify Lake Como's tower ordinance for violating state land use laws. Officials there have also charged that Lake Como's governing body neglected to notify them of the public hearing on the ordinance when it came up for a vote on May 3. Borough Attorney Joseph Colao filed the civil suit against Lake Como in June.

Because the borough-owned Marucci Park sits within 200 feet of the proposed tower site, Spring Lake officials contend that they should have been notified of the hearing.

Despite having the tower ordinance on its books, Lake Como must first apply to the state Green Acres program for a diversion to allow commercial development on the protected land.

To persuade Lake Como to apply for the diversion, Greater Media officials have stated that the heightened tower will reach a wider audience when the radio station broadcasts urgent news and information via the federal Emergency Alert System.

Although the company now owns and operates a 300-foot-high tower outside the WRAT studios at Main Street and 18th Avenue, corporate officials have indicated they need a higher tower to reach more listeners should a natural or manmade disaster occur.

The need to broadcast to a larger audience in case of emergency constitutes a compelling public need and meets the Green Acres criteria for granting the diversion of protected land, Greater Media officials have said.

If Lake Como were to receive the Green Acres diversion, Greater Media could then file the needed zoning board of adjustment use variance applications to build the higher tower. Ultimately, the existing tower in the borough's downtown would be dismantled, company officials have said.

The heightened tower would also include antenna space for up to 17 cellular telephone carriers and help to sustain the expense of the structure according to Greater Media officials.

In considering Greater Media's building plan, Lake Como officials have projected annual revenues of $54,000 resulting from a 50-year-land lease with the WRAT owner. That revenue could then be passed onto property owners and give the town a much-needed ratable, borough officials have said.