SNOHOMISH — A Snohomish County hearing examiner has rejected plans for two radio towers proposed south of Snohomish, citing health concern for nearby residents.
The decision comes after four other radio towers went up this summer amid farmland in the Snohomish River Valley. Those towers were built without taking into account possible health risks associated with the project, said Angela Day of Snohomish.
“It sure raises a question in my mind and in other people’s minds,” said Day, who lives about a mile northwest of the radio towers.
Andy Skotdal, whose family owns KRKO-AM 1380, said he plans to appeal the hearing examiner’s decision, issued on Oct. 15.
“The examiner’s decision is entirely based on speculation without facts,” Skotdal said.
Electromagnetic energy from the proposed two AM radio towers could negatively affect the health of those who live nearby, as suggested in multiple studies, hearing examiner Barbara Dykes wrote in her decision.
“It is important to take protective measures now without having to wait until the reality and seriousness of the risks become fully apparent,” Dykes wrote.
Day and other area residents have fought the radio towers for years, saying that they would lower their property values and cause health problems.
The Skotdal family wants to build the two additional towers to put a proposed new frequency at 1520 AM to reach all of Snohomish County during the day and some cities at night.
The four existing towers are expected to increase KRKO’s broadcasting power from 5,000 watts to 34,000 watts during the day and to 50,000 watts at night, according to Skotdal. Those towers should allow the station to expand its coverage area, reaching listeners all the way from Tacoma to Mount Vernon during the day. Three of the towers are 199 feet tall; the other is 349 feet tall.
The four towers would start broadcasting by the end of this year, Skotdal said in July. On Tuesday, he declined to comment on when he expected the towers would become operational.
Day said she hopes that the Federal Communications Commission would note the hearing examiner’s decision and withdraw its permit on the four towers. The radio towers don’t fit the Snohomish River Valley, Day said.
“It’s an agricultural valley,” she said. “This is an industrial development.”
Federal regulators already decided that the four towers meet all of their safety and environmental rules, Skotdal said.
“I’m not concerned about this decision with respect to FCC at all,” he said.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
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