WA Radio: KRPI Loses Tower Appeal Vote

In a vote this week, the Whatcom County Council in Washington upheld an earlier decision to deny a permit for 150-foot radio towers in Point Roberts.

Council voted 7-0 to affirm an Oct. 21 decision by the county hearing examiner to reject an application by KRPI 1550 AM / BBC Broadcasting, Inc., to build five towers about 1,200 feet from the Canadian border. The hearing examiner ruled the towers violated a 45-foot height restriction in Point Roberts.

KRPI (50 Kw-D-DA, 10 Kw-N-DA) currently airs Punjabi programming to a mostly Canadian audience.

Proposed Tower Site

The council deliberated on its ruling behind closed doors shortly before its public vote. Per county code, the council took no public testimony.

John Lesow, a member of the Cross Border Coalition to Stop The Radio Towers, said opponents got the decision they expected. He said he also expects the relatively deep-pocketed BBC Broadcasting to appeal again, to Superior Court.

“Last night was just another battle in a long, long war,” Lesow said on Wednesday, Jan. 28. “That’s just the realistic way of looking at it. I would hope that it’s not because wars cost money.”

“We’ve been amazingly successful in our grassroots fundraising to fund the fight against these towers,” Lesow said, adding that the coalition has received maybe thousands of small donations from residents in Point Roberts and immediately across the border in Tsawwassen.