A proposed laydown site that would have housed a Rogers Cellular tower was struck down by council tonight.
The site adjacent to Signal road is currently designated as an Environmental Reserve and council would have had to convert the designation to a public utility lot but the bylaw was struck down unanimously during the second reading after a number of delegations from local residents.
“There was a multitude of issues related to the site, ultimately what the administration was looking for was the ability to convert a small portion of the Environmental Reserve to a Public Utility Lot which would enable them to create the lease availability for a cell tower up in that neighbourhood,” said Mayor Melissa Blake.
Residents in the area were concerned about construction and general traffic to and from the proposed site that they say would have disrupted their quality of life. They presented council with a letter from 34 area residents who were against the project.
“It was zoned an environmental reserve, there’s other options for the cell tower and I think what council was saying was that we need to follow our own policies and procedures before we move forward,” said Councillor Sheldon Germain.
The Rogers tower would have increased coverage in the Thickwood area and provided additional reception ahead of the upcoming Western Canada Summer Games. The communications company says the anticipated extra traffic from thousands of new visitors will put a strain on current infrastructure.
Mayor Blake says that when planning new developments or neighbourhoods the Municipality needs to properly plan where it will put public utility lots and infrastructure like cell towers to this kind of situation.
The proposed tower would have sat on 0.29 acres of land and stood 70 metres high.
Rogers Communications Inc. would have paid the RMWB $15,000 per year to lease the space with a ten per cent rate increase every five years.
Rogers owns MyMcMurray and its affiliate stations Rock 97.9 and Country 93.3
