Bridge plans, tower collide

CLEARWATER -- Last year, the city spent more than a half-million dollars to acquire a sliver of land from the owners of the WTAN-AM 1340 radio station, so the new Clearwater Memorial Causeway bridge could be built.

The price was twice an appraiser's estimate of the land's value, and it included a payment to help the "Tan-Talk" station move to another downtown studio and build a new radio tower.

Unfortunately, city officials say, the radio station built its new radio tower so that it encroaches 5 feet onto the city's property -- the same land that it cost Clearwater so much to buy last year.

City officials worry that the tower could hinder construction of the $69-million bridge.

The bridge builder is trying to figure out how large construction equipment will work around the radio tower, City Engineer Mike Quillen said. The crews plan to begin work in the area on June 17, he said.

If the tower's location is a problem, the city will sue the radio station to force it to move the wayward tower off city property, City Manager Bill Horne said. The city has sent a letter to WTAN-AM asking that the tower, a fence and a satellite dish built on city property be removed immediately.

But radio station officials are blaming the tower's location on the city and do not want to move their tower. Construction crews "put the tower exactly where (the city) told them to put it," radio station owner Dave Wagenvoord said.

Bob Diamond, who owns Quality Tower Erectors and Service, the company that built the tower, said plans for the tower were "approved and signed off by the city."

"They came out and looked at it, and everything was fine," Diamond said. "Now, all of sudden, they're saying it's not right. The whole thing has been a nightmare from Day 1."

City officials disagree with the Tan-Talk version of events.

City Manager Bill Horne called the allegations "hogwash," while Quillen said plans submitted to the city show the tower was supposed to be built about 5 feet farther west.

"We gave them all the data that they needed to put that tower in the correct location and they simply didn't do it," Horne said. "The plans that we approved clearly show them where it's supposed to go. For them to say that we're responsible is baloney."

If the tower is able to stay where it is, Horne said some kind of settlement would have to be worked out. The city should be "properly compensated" for how the radio station took control of the city's property, he said.

In total, the city paid $539,765 to buy the land it needed from the radio station. The purchase was the largest in a total of $1.9-million in land acquisitions for the bridge project, Quillen said.

WTAN-AM's Clearwater attorney, Michael Gaines, said he hopes the issues can be resolved without requiring the relocation of the tower.

City records place the value of the tower at about $75,000.

But Gaines said that moving the tower could cost as much as $500,000. An alternative tower would have to be built, and then the existing tower demolished, so that the radio station could stay on the air, he said.

"Regardless of who's right or wrong, moving that tower is no small deal," Gaines said. "I'm hoping that, however it got there, it's something that can be worked out."

Gaines and Diamond said that problems began when a 5-foot-wide storm drainage pipe was discovered under the station's property before the tower's construction began.

The city, which gave another sliver of land to the station as part of the property deal, did not tell the station about the drain, Gaines said.

Diamond said his company had to work around the drainage system as it sank 20-foot-deep concrete foundations to hold the 183-foot-tall radio tower.

The city discovered the issues about two weeks ago, when the contractor surveyed the bridge's approach, Quillen said.

City inspectors also found that inspections were never completed for the radio station's project, and that the tower's transmitter building was built without a permit and in violation of flood zone rules, said Jeff Kronschnabl, director of development services. These issues have to be resolved, or the radio station could face code violation fines, he said.

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