Capital Public Radio Application for a Conditional Use Permit Capital Public Radio (CPR) is requesting a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to build a 500 foot broadcast tower with antennas off of 13333 Kiefer Road southeast of the Sacramento County landfill in Sloughhouse. CPR is in the process of entering into a long term lease with the County of Sacramento on its landfill border property to take advantage of a short term radio spectrum. The site is making productive use of the landfill buffer areas on previously developed and disturbed property that does not affect grazing, pasture or habitat area and is out of the flight paths of agriculture crop dusting. The facility will consist of the following: 1. A 500 ft tower with 3 triangular faces of ~42” each (open faced). 2. 3 anchor points for the supporting cables, each equally space 120° from each other – 3 sets of multiple attached to the tower at various points and terminating in a ground anchor ~275 feet from the tower to take advantage of the previously developed former home site. 3. Approximately 2,200 SF concrete (CMU) or metal building structures, to house the transmitter, back up transmitter operations for the station including future expansion if another FM station is acquired and future cellular operators. The buildings will be on a pad of approximately 7,500 SF, with a minimum floor elevation of 1.5 foot above flood elevation. Backup power provided by-Propane fueled back up emergency power generator on the pad to allow operation in times of power interruption such as natural disasters. The generator will have a footprint of ~ 45- 100 square feet adjacent to the building(s). The area’s reduction in size is due to the level terrain compared to the previous location. 4. A graveled road of ~110 feet serving the site from the adjacent ranch road. 5. Approval of 7 foot chain link security fences with barbed wire on top around each of the anchor points as well as the station building area, generator and tower base . 6. Power will be provided from the current 3 phase electric presently serving the site. Timing CPR has obtained a key expiring grant of several hundred thousand dollars from the Federal Government’s National Telecommunications and Information Agency to construct this public service facility. CPR wants to start building this yar and finish prior to the Swainson Hawk’s spring return. Justification With over 32,000 members CPR is an important community resource for the region reaching approximately 450,000 people a day and a region of over 3 million listen to CPR’s 7 stations. As part of the emergency broadcast system, CPR is an important daily link with the community that becomes critical in times of national, regional and local emergencies. Placement of the station at this new location will provide better 1 service to over 2 million people in the Sacramento region and an emergency backup site for Capital Public Radio’s KXJZ News Station as well as an emergency link via KXPR. The alternative site is~.7 miles northwest of the originally proposed Deer Creek Preserve site and out of the flight paths furnished by the crop dusters serving the area. The tower will be properly marked. The facilities reuse an area that was previously used as a farm and home development. Neighborhood Outreach Program The area we are proposing was chosen for its distance from adjacent neighbors. The nearest occupied residence is over a mile away. To the west is the County landfill along with its buffer areas. To the south are buffer lands for the Sacramento County landfill.. Further south, approximately 1-1.25 miles are businesses and some homes along Jackson Highway in Sloughhouse. A school is 1.5 miles southeast.. A ranch is a over a half mile to the east. At this time the home is unoccupied as the ranch owners have moved elsewhere. CPR has been in discussion with Sacramento County’s landfill personnel, the primary surrounding owner who are aware of the station’s desire to use the site. In our field work we have talked at various times to different owners near the site and will continue to be available to meet with them further during the process. We have been, and will continue attending the Community Advisory meetings and be available for local discussions and questions. Tower Specifics The tower will be constructed of tubular open faced steel with the 22 sections of 20 feet each, bolted together and topped off with a 60 foot FM broadcast antenna for a total of 500 feet.. In addition there will be up to 4 microwave dishes for sending and receiving communication to and from our studio location, and to our distant transmitter sites covering other communities. At lower tower elevations, we have reserved space for future cellular antennas. In addition, there is a space for an additional future FM antenna. Details are shown on the attachments. Tower construction requires the cables to be equally spaced around the tower with 120° separation. CPR has located the tower to minimize the impact on the surrounding land and trees. The clearing to construct removes approximately 5 to 6 assorted fruit trees. The impacted land area consists of approximately 12,000 SF of land. All but 1,200 feet is in the previously developed ranch site, the balance is on hard pan non-farming and habitat land. The total area including buffer areas under and around the cables is .67 acres. Selected Site 2 The site has been obtained after a search in excess of 6 years. Special consideration was given to finding areas with a minimal impact on the region’s population. This site is being obtained to move the location from the crop duster flight patterns needed for the farmlands to the south. In addition the station has completed two eight month time sensitive applications with the FCC and FAA to get the site approved and is in the process of updating those applications Various restraints include other existing broadcast stations, the need to avoid interfering with operations at Sacramento County’s Mather Airport and Rancho Murietta’s airport, the area to be served, terrain and large adjacent subdivisions. This opportunity to move KXPR was made possible when KVIE-TV channel 6 became digital, thereby eliminating a source of interference by KXPR to the old KVIE TV analog signal. (further details below). The site was chosen to avoid the Mather flight path west, and also avoid interference from other FM broadcast facilities north and east of Sacramento. The site will greatly improve broadcast service to Sacramento, Roseville, and South Placer County. Background of Noncommercial KXPR Capital Public Radio began in 1979 as KERS, a single station broadcasting classical, news, and jazz to the Sacramento area. Since then CPR has expanded to operate seven radio stations throughout California’s Central Valley and Tahoe regions, reaching weekly audiences of 400,000+ people. CPR is an auxiliary of California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). The operating licenses of the stations are owned by CSUS. In the Sacramento area, we broadcast KXPR and KXJZ. While KXJZ provides quality news and talk programs to the Sacramento area, KXPR provides a trusted source of classical, jazz and fine arts programming. At a time when many cities throughout the nation are cutting down or eliminating their classical and jazz programming, CPR as been able to expand ours to broadcast music nearly twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week on KXPR. In addition, CPR provides a worldwide connection to news, jazz and classical through streaming web services. CPR serves as an important news source, links to regional and national emergency operations, and as a clearinghouse to arts organizations throughout the greater Sacramento area through airing public service announcements and specialty programs on their behalf. Capital Public Radio consists of a staff of over 50 dedicated employees, in addition with countless community volunteers and a regional independent Board of Directors of 24 community leaders. CPR’s mission is to provide a trusted source of information, music and entertainment for curious and thoughtful people in an efficient, sustainable way, strengthening the civic and cultural life of the communities we serve. Our vision is to be a valued, vital and vibrant service that is indispensable to listeners’ lives, inspires people to look at the world in different ways and capitalizes on emerging opportunities to serve our listeners and our communities. 3 By moving the KXPR transmitter site from the south County to east of the landfill area will substantially improve existing weak reception pockets including, but not limited to Land Park, Arden Arcade and parts of Antelope as well as South Placer County. Situation Analysis California State University, Sacramento, holds the Federal Communications Commission license to operate noncommercial KXPR on 88.9 MHZ. Since its inception on July 1, 1991, potential interference difficulties with public television station KVIE, channel 6, has restricted the 88.9 MHZ frequency to transmitting from its current location near Walnut Grove. KVIE and KXPR presently have been essentially co-located, transmitting from the same area so that neither can cause interference to the other. The Federal Communications Commission has mandated the cessation of analog television on-air broadcasting beginning February 17, 2009. KVIE’s discontinued its analog operation on channel 6 and began operating with a new digital signal on television channel 9. Previous interference issues between KXPR and KVIE are no longer applicable, thereby allowing KXPR to move to a more favorable transmitting site location. This will consequently provide better coverage to by KXPR to Sacramento County, its community of license.