Most at hearing decry radio towers

By Steve Powell

Herald Writer

EVERETT — Dairy farmer Robert Darlington of Snohomish is afraid eight radio towers proposed for the Snohomish Valley could disrupt his computer milking system.

Each cow wears a transponder that sends information to a computer, which measures such things as the amount of milk a cow produces each day. It can even help determine the health of a cow.

"We can find out she’s sick before she even knows it," Darlington said Thursday at a public hearing on KRKO’s plans to put radio towers in the Snohomish Valley.

Darlington, who lives about a mile from the proposed site of the towers, said he spent $200,000 on the milking system and worries radio interference from the towers will mess it up.

He also is concerned the towers would keep him from advancing to the next stage in dairy farming — using robotic milkers.

Darlington was one of dozens of people who spoke to deputy hearing examiner Peter Donahue Thursday afternoon and evening. Most opposed the project. Testimony was to continue today. The hearing resumes on Monday because of appeals by Kandace Harvey of nearby Harvey Airfield and Citizens to Preserve the Upper Snohomish River Valley/Pilchuck Audubon Society.

Donahue expects that process to take up to 10 days. A decision probably will come weeks later.

Andy Skotdal, president and general manager of the Everett-based news-talk radio station KRKO, opened the hearing by explaining the project to about 125 people.

KRKO has proposed one tower that would be 425 feet tall and seven others 199 feet tall at a rural location at 11304 132nd St. SE. The towers would give the station a broadcast ability 10 times greater than its current 5,000 watts, enabling it to be heard from the Canadian border to Olympia.

Skotdal said his project has support from Boeing, so workers who live farther away can pick up the station, and also nonprofit groups that don’t get exposure from Seattle-area media. Some school districts, public officials, emergency services and government agencies also have shown support, he said, along with listeners who sometimes have a hard time hearing the station.

Skotdal said he has listened to opponents and decreased the height and width of the towers. Originally, four were going to be 466 feet high and four 425 feet. They have taken off guy wires to save birds. And only one, not all eight, will be lighted.

"We took all the issues to heart" and hired 23 consultants to redesign the project, he said.

He mentioned that radio station KCIS has three 395-foot-tall towers at the headwaters of the Little Bear Creek area of Bothell.

That’s when you "realize how low-impact they are," he said of the towers. "There’s less impact than a typical home" because you don’t have septic tanks, traffic and the like.

But even though it seemed Skotdal had all his ducks in a row, many in the crowd were not impressed, ironically because of birds.

Martha Jordan of Everett talked about the bald eagles and trumpeter swans that fly through that area daily. And taxpayers spent $2 million on nearby Bob Heirman Wildlife Park.

"We don’t want to force the flocks to leave the refuge," Dave Matthews of Snohomish said.

Pilot Larry Dawson of Everett said that despite a Federal Aviation and Administration ruling, he is concerned about the towers’ proximity to Harvey Airfield.

Many others worried about their views being ruined, thereby reducing property values.

Matthews said he used to live near radio towers in Edmonds and was bothered by the radio frequency emissions there. He asked if KRKO would be willing to tear down the towers if they did, indeed, ruin the neighbors’ quality of life.

Emily Ewing of Snohomish probably best described that issue. She explained how her family sleeps outside watching meteor showers in late summer.

"Let us watch stars at night and not strobe lights," she said.

Later, to applause, she said: "Let this one person find a more appropriate place to build — someplace where building his fortune doesn’t make so many others lose theirs."

You can call Herald Writer Steve Powell at 425-339-3427 or send e-mail to powell@heraldnet.com.

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