Watch above: SaskTel is proposing a 35-meter cell phone tower at McKercher Drive & 8th Street. As Wendy Winiewski reports, an open house did little to reassure area residents.
SASKATOON – Plans for a new cell phone tower are making waves in one Saskatoon neighbourhood. SaskTel is proposing to install a 35-metre cell phone tower at the southwest corner of the McKercher Drive and 8th Street intersection.
The massive tower will stretch high above the nearby condominiums and apartments, making Danny Jones question the location.
“They could put it anywhere but they decide to put it next to residential because it’s the cheapest way,” said Jones at an open house meeting Thursday evening. Jones desperately tried to reason with SaskTel officials to place it directly across the street in a large commercial parking lot.
Sobey’s is located on this property. A block west of the proposed location is the Centre at Circle and 8th Mall and a block east, Wildwood golf course.
According to SaskTel, “X” marks the best proposed spot.
“We drew a circle and asked our land people to go out and find a piece of land in that circle” said Daryl Godfrey, chief technology officer with the crown corporation. “You might imagine, there’s not a lot of places to put it in this area because most of it is residential.”
Godfrey says coverage in the area is rated as poor and will deteriorate further as people continue to use more data. Residents say it will be an eye sore but also worry about decreased property values or the possibility of it falling in a storm and causing a fire.
The nearest residence is too close for comfort, according to Jones. “This guy here, he’s 75 feet away,” said Jones, pointing at a map. “The tower is 115 feet. You do the math. It’s going to kill him.”
Godfrey said that argument is irrelevant as SaskTel has never had a permanent structure fall over.
“They’re designed for the maximum wind you would ever expect to get in Saskatchewan, the maximum ice that would be on one of these structures so they are really designed to never fall down,” said Godfrey.
Ward 9 Coun. Tiffany Paulsen has calls it a balancing act.
“There is a health clinic in this area that desperately needs ability to access this kind of data for patient and health care needs so that’s weighing in on the debate as well,” said Paulsen.
After a tower went up in Briarwood in 2013 without consultation, residents were enraged. This prompted city council to refine the process. Now residents have to be notified and if there’s concern, an open house must be held. The city then makes a recommendation to Industry Canada which holds the final decision.
Since the tower in Briarwood was installed, nine others have gone up in Saskatoon. A proposal for one at the Forestry Farm caused some concern but still received the ‘go ahead’.
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