For months, the City Council and residents of Pensacola, FL have been at odds over a communications tower on land leased by the city. The Pensacola News Journal reports the City Council earlier this month “approved directing staff to bring them more information on the tower which is located in a conservation district adjacent to a storm water pond near the intersection of Palafox and Jordan streets.”
The request was made as the Pensacola city staff dug deeper into the issue of the Long Hollow radio tower. Controversy began with a slew of questions raised by North Hill Preservation Association President Melanie Nichols and her followers, The News Journal said. They contend that the City Council violated city policy in approving a lease with Divine Word Radio owner Gene Church in 2012 that allowed Church to replace an aging tower with a new, taller one. They also believe the tower was built without the proper permits and is unsafe.
Jeff Bookout, owner of Pensacola Towers LLC, was a subcontractor hired under Gulf Coast Building Contractors, which had a permit to build the tower. He said the story some concerned citizens are telling is a farce and that the tower was built legally and is safe. Church has maintained that Nichols has an incomplete picture of how the tower was built and that as the city conducts its research they will find everything was done by the book.
Church, Bookout and Nichols were all at a council meeting two weeks ago to discuss the tower. Church sat on the front row with his lawyer, Ed Fleming, who he let do the talking. “I would ask that you limit your investigation to the things that you have right in your purview,” Fleming told the council. “And that you don’t try to get into the FAA’s business, or the FCC’s business.”
The News Journal contacted the FCC and the FCC over the matter. “The FAA does not play any role in whether or not the sponsor built a structure, the agency responded and the FCC declined comment. Meanwhile, billable legal’s continue to pile up for both sides.
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