The James City County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a microwave tower on county land, leasing the space to Davis Media for $250 each month.
The board initially took up discussion of the tower on Dec. 10, but deferred a vote due to lingering questions on the agreement — including whether the county should charge more for that piece of land — and citizen concerns about a government partnership with a media outlet, which again surfaced at Tuesday’s public hearing.
The supervisors ultimately voted 5-0 in favor of the application from Davis Media LLC, citing how the tower will provide the stations with a more reliable connection during extreme weather events and the board’s desire to support local businesses. The county has an agreement with Davis Media that allows the Emergency Operations Center to cut in when there is a need to spread information during an emergency.
Davis Media LLC, parent company of WYDaily and radio stations The Tide and Bach FM, submitted a request to the county late last year to build a 104-foot microwave tower on county land at 5249 Olde Towne Road. The tower would send information from the nearby radio studio to a tower in Barhamsville, which transmits the radio signal.
The connection is aimed to replace the stations’ dependency on a T1 data line that runs from the studio near the intersection of Olde Towne and Longhill roads to the Barhamsville tower as a mix of overhead and underground lines. Because sections of the T1 line are strung overhead, the radio signal can drop out during extreme weather conditions.
In 2006, the county acted as a pass-through for Williamsburg Community Health Foundation grant funding dedicated toward purchasing a generator for Davis Media. The generator ensures the Barhamsville tower stays online if electricity goes out, but does nothing to keep the signal transmitting if the T1 lines go down in a storm.
Davis proposed the tower to keep the radio broadcasting because part of the 2006 arrangement with the county requires Davis to open up the radio stations to James City County for emergency broadcasts. The county’s staff can either contact Davis or the radio station staff to broadcast a message, or they can break into the broadcast at any time to transmit their own message.
If the radio station goes down during an emergency due to T1 line failure, emergency broadcasts don’t get out.
“If we could save one citizen, just one, that is well worth anything we’ve done. That’s what we need to look at. That’s why I ran. One person, then we’ve done a good job,” said Supervisor Michael Hipple (Powhatan). “Being in the volunteer fire department, it’s hard to get the word out. Do I agree with the entire package? Maybe not. And I’m not going to argue those, whether this is good or that’s bad.”
The structure of Davis Media — as both a print and broadcast media outlet — had citizens questioning whether the county would be supporting WYDaily through a deal with Davis Media. Citizens expressed concern over a perceived bias in WYDaily articles and the public comment section of articles.
Supervisor Mary Jones (Berkeley) shared a similar concern and questioned Davis about the relationship between WYDaily and The Tide, asking whether WYDaily recorded news casts for the radio.
Davis said though the station airs news breaks, The Tide is a music station and the tower request had nothing to do with WYDaily. He continued to say he did not understand how the county could allocate $2.8 million toward emergency communication in its fiscal year 2014 budget and then potentially reject an application that would make one form of spreading information during an emergency more reliable because of concerns over content.
“We’ve been putting the citizens first with our services now for a long time,” Davis said.
Kennedy kicked off the board’s discussion with a comment on whether the content on the radio stations or WYDaily is relevant.
“If I based my decision solely on the content that would be put on the WYDaily, the Virginia Gazette or anything else, I mean to be quite honest, not only would I say ‘no,’ I would probably say ‘hell no,’” Kennedy said. “I’ve been the victim, in my opinion, of many stories … but you know what, it comes with the territory. It is what it is. I don’t like it, but I have to roll with it.”
Kennedy said if he approved applications based on who he liked, he probably wouldn’t approve very much.
“I do like my dog, but they haven’t had any applications before me,” he said.
Focusing on issues he heard brought up by citizens, Kennedy said he thought the $3,000 annual lease price for the county’s land was fair and the tower did not pose any health risks. He also said there are existing cross-promotions between the county and private businesses because there are existing public-private partnerships in the county.
Looking at the business side, Supervisor Kevin Onizuk (Jamestown) said he supported aiding a county business, and pressed the need to show that support if the county is serious about growing with quality business partners. Granting Davis Media the right to build the tower supported the business, which he said could lead to increased profit and job creation.
“I think this is a positive for our community, I think it’s a positive for our business community,” Onizuk said.
Supervisor John McGlennon voiced support for the tower proposal at the board’s Dec. 10 meeting, and continued to voice his support Tuesday. He also focused on the business aspect as well as a citizen comment that likened public-private partnerships to communist activity.
“I have to say that there are times when I wonder what a business person thinking about locating in James City County would think if they listened to some of the discourse in the room,” McGlennon said. “And my understanding of public-private partnerships must really be out of date, because I thought it was all the rage among conservatives who wanted to see government turn over opportunities for business to more efficiently run operations, take advantage of the markets and so forth. And I certainly never had heard the concept of communism being associated with public-private partnerships.”
McGlennon said he would be happy to support the request, and thinks county citizens are getting more out of the deal than Davis Media. In times of emergency when the power goes out and citizens cannot use their cell phones, laptops or televisions to access information, all they need is a hand-crank or battery-powered radio to pick up a station broadcasting emergency information.
The board also addressed a comment from resident Walker Ware regarding the need for a policy on leasing county land to private businesses, with Jones and Kennedy agreeing a policy should be put in place. In the case of the media tower, Jones said other businesses and utilities could have been looking for a tower location without knowing they had the option of attempting to put a tower on county land.
Though Jones had her concerns, she said she would support the application because it did involve a lease payment. The county will collect $3,000 from Davis Media for leasing the land.
Related Coverage:
