The Port Townsend City Council has agreed to let KPTZ place a 60-foot radio tower on city property at Morgan Hill.    

“In a nutshell, we’re asking for the approval of a lease because KPTZ would like to site a tower there at Morgan Hill, next to an existing tower to help with communication out of the fort,” Public Works Director Steve King told the city council at its last meeting. “Before they can do that they need to acquire a conditional use permit and a variance for the height, in order to meet the zoning requirements.”

King noted that KPTZ did not want to put forth the investment toward permitting the project if the city wouldn’t commit to the lease in the end.

During a previous informational meeting with the council, KPTZ Chief Engineer Bill Putney explained  that the tower is needed in order to maintain the station’s emergency radio network as the station moves to the studio’s new location at Fort Worden. Fort Worden, Putney explained, did not allow for adequate line-of-sight to other towers that could  link to the emergency network.

The tower at Morgan Hill, he added, would be used strictly for emergencies and not for broadcasting KPTZ programming. 

Putney noted there will still be a public hearing process associated with the conditional use permit required for the group to operate the tower.

He also added that he expected a public comment period following the environmental review of the site, geologic surveying, and an FCC-mandated historic preservation assessment.

Richard Illman encouraged the council to approve the resolution in a letter to the city.

“Morgan Hill is well-known to provide optimum radio coverage for Port Townsend and East Jefferson County which makes it a logical solution for KPTZ since they moved to Fort Worden,” Illman said.

“Amateur Radio Emergency Services and the Jefferson County Amateur Radio Club, with the funding and guidance of the Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management, have operated an emergency repeater and provided communications for the benefit of the whole community from the adjacent building and short tower for many years,” he added. “Since KPTZ is integrated with the Jefferson County Emergency Operations Center, we support their addition to the Morgan Hill facility.”

In motioning for a vote to accept the agreement, Councilmember David Faber called the station “an essential public service here in our community.”

The council voted unanimously — with the exception of Monica MickHager, who recused herself from the vote due to her association with KPTZ — to authorize the city manager to execute a 20-year, no-cost lease for the Morgan Hill communication facilities.