By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

City administration to review bylaws that govern cell towers

Oct 31, 2023 | 6:00 AM

City council has approved having administration review the parts of the Land Use Bylaw that govern cell phone towers.

Councillor Chris Thiessen made the motion to do this, saying the bylaw has not been checked for 10 years and technology has changed a lot in that time.

This came after council approved negotiating a deal with Rogers after the company said it wanted to build a tower near CKC Field, where another one is already located.

Deputy Mayor Kevin O’Toole thinks the federal departments in charge of cell tower safety are already doing a good job.

“When I stay in a hotel, I usually go out and try to look and see how many cell phone towers are in Toronto or Ottawa or Calgary or Edmonton and there’s a lot of them. I know some of them are near parks and I know some of them are near playgrounds.”

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Thiessen’s original motion had included having administration look at the potential health impacts of cell towers, but council opted to remove that part as it was outside of administration’s area of expertise.

O’Toole says he has, in the past, voiced concerns about having towers close to places like sports fields but adds technology has changed.

“A lot of people do complain but that area of town that’s in question right now, you couldn’t get very good cell phone coverage. You couldn’t get downloading ability very well. When they put that in, it made a huge difference for the home businesses, the businesses, the people, the students.”

O’Toole says he is not expecting any surprises.

“I think this is a good opportunity to verify our stats and concerns and we’ll make it happen.”

This will come back to a future city meeting,