Mayor: WRAT Tower Decision Will Be Based On Facts, Not Fear

Lake Como officials are relying upon facts and figures, not threatened lawsuits, in deciding if the owner of should be allowed to in Behrmann Park.

Responding to comments by residents during Tuesday night's Borough Council meeting, Mayor Michael Ryan said officials are not intimidated by suggestions that Greater Media Inc., the radio station's parent company, would sue the town if denied access to the borough-owned park to build the tower.

"No one up here [on the dais] is fearful of a lawsuit," Ryan told about 80 persons present in council chambers. 

The borough's legal professionals are prepared to negotiate with Greater Media about its plan to erect the tower, he added.

Ryan acknowledged that the proposal to place the tower—a commercial entity—on land designated as open space by the state Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres program has s living closest to the park near Marjoram Avenue and 22nd Street.

Nonetheless, testimony presented by Greater Media officials during the June 22 scoping hearing, not public sentiment, will drive the council's decision as to whether to seek a DEP diversion allowing construction of the tower on Green Acres land.

"We are dealing with the facts, not emotional issues," Ryan said.

Ryan admonished those in attendance not to applaud, interrupt or call out while speakers on either side of the issue spoke during the night's continuation of the scoping session. Such behavior would not be tolerated, he said.

"Catcalling and interrupting—that's not going to happen tonight," Ryan said.

Greater Media has promised to pay market-rate rent on the space it uses for the tower and a two-story ancillary building that would be constructed at its base. The company has estimated that rent could range from $50,000 to $75,000 monthly depending on market conditions.

Council members need to consider how that rent could generate much-needed revenue for the town and help offset property taxes, Ryan said.

"The problem in Lake Como is not cutting expenses, but generating revenue," Ryan said.

If Greater Media were to receive site plan approval and a variance to construct the tower in the park, the borough would hire an appraiser to determine market-rate rent for the entire structure, the mayor continued.

Citing one estimate presented by Greater Media to date, Ryan told the public that if the company paid $54,000 annually in market-rate rent, property owners would save about $125 yearly on a home assessed at the borough average of $350,000. Over the course of a 50-year lease, the borough would reap approximately $2.7 million altogether, he added.

Those figures do not take into consideration any cost of living increases or future assessments.

Regardless of Greater Media's pledge to pay rent and to donate $150,000 toward repairing and replacing recreational facilities inside the park, Councilman Kevin Lynch still has two issues with the plan.

Using Green Acres property for Greater Media's commercial interests is a decision that will impact the community and its children in the present and future, Lynch said.

"Visualize your son or daughter looking up at this tower while playing baseball," Lynch said.

Observing the more than 500-foot-high WHTG radio transmission tower situated at the UPS facility on Hope Road in Tinton Falls brought Lynch's second issue to mind. The proposed tower's height has been compared to the WHTG tower.

"It was seeing that tower at UPS that really scared me," Lynch said. "I hope we take a step back and really look at this."

Statements by Greater Media representatives that it will sue the town if it is not allowed to erect the tower do not bother Lynch. Company representatives have said that if the town shoots down its plan for the park, it will apply for a use variance to raise the existing 300-foot-high tower at 18th and Main Streets to 535 feet.

Denial of the use variance would result in court action, Greater Media representatives have predicted.

"I have no problem fighting it," Lynch said.

At the recommendation of Councilman Doug Witte, the council will organize a volunteer committee--composed of officials and residents--to negotiate with Greater Media about its overall proposal.

That committee is expected to be in place when the council continues its own scoping hearing on the tower issue on Aug. 16.