| Draft Environmental Impact Statement Shorts School Road Am Antenna Structures 6 2 PROPOSED ACTION and ALTERNATIVES 2.1 Project History On October 11, 2000, S-R Broadcasting applied to Snohomish County for permits to construct a new transmitter site for KRKO-AM at the Shorts School Road site, consisting of eight antennas, five at 466 feet tall, and three at 425 feet tall; all antenna structures were to be supported by guy wires, and because of FAA regulations related to their height, all were proposed to be lighted and marked with orange and white aviation marking paint. Public notice of the proposed antenna project was published November 1, 2000 in The Herald and November 8, 2000 in the Snohomish Tribune. Snohomish County Planning and Development Services (�PDS�) determined the application to be complete by letter dated 11/27/00. Shortly thereafter, two groups opposed to the project formed: Harvey Field (�Harvey�) and Citizens To Preserve The Upper Snohomish River Valley (�CPUSRV�). During the public comment period on the project, approximately 414 comment letters both in support of the project and in opposition to the project were received by the County. Included among these letters were comments from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In addition, CPUSRV leaders were afforded the opportunity to meet twice with County officials to express their concerns about the project. Those meetings included Steve Holt, then director of Planning and Development Services (PDS) and Erik Olson, project lead for PDS. First Project Revision In early December, Snohomish County officials placed the statutory 120-day decision deadline for the project on hold to allow for additional fact gathering. In response to public comments, PDS requested additional information from Applicant S-R Broadcasting, including information on avian interactions with communication structures, photographic simulations, a Critical Areas Study, an RF Mitigation Plan, a Site-Selection Report, an acoustical analysis, lighting analysis, real-estate evaluations, skydiving analysis, ballooning analysis, and an airport traffic, approach, and takeoff analysis, in addition to the geotechnical and soils analyses the Applicant had already provided to the County. On 08/14/01, the Applicant submitted the requested additional information to PDS together with an amended SEPA checklist document reflecting the additional information and suggested adjustments requested by the County. On 08/28/01, the County resumed the 120-day decision calendar. On 10/04/01 both Applicant and representatives of CPUSRV made presentations to the Snohomish County Agricultural Advisory Board. Following that meeting, the Agricultural Advisory Board also submitted comments to PDS for the record. The County relayed all comments received on the project to the Applicant and requested the Applicant to address all issues as they were raised. As a result of the public input process, the Applicant substantially revised the project from five guyed antennas 466 feet tall and three guyed antennas 425 feet tall, to one self-supporting antenna 425 feet tall and seven self-supporting antennas below 200 feet in height. After this revision, only one antenna, the 425 foot antenna, required aviation marking and lighting. The remaining sub-200 foot antennas were exempt from painting and lighting per FAA regulations, so lighting and painting were eliminated from seven antennas. |