Residents pack town hall to oppose cell tower site

West end residents crowded a town hall event Thursday night to oppose a proposed cell tower on 34th Street that has been at the centre of developing pushback this summer.

More than 70 people showed up at the Westridge Community Centre for a tense consultation session hosted by the tower applicant. Residents questioned the host, asserting the 35-metre cell tower proposed for 1009 34th St. is not welcome.

Price Leurebourg hosted the town hall on behalf of Shared Tower Inc., which is applying to build the cell tower.

Leurebourg spent most of the two hours fielding questions, at times objecting to the repeated interruptions.

The planning manager for Western Canada at Shared Tower, Leurebourg said that the company is proposing the tower to help Rogers Communications find a new home for antennae in Brandon.

Rogers’ contract will expire in 2026, he said, and existing service levels will drop unless Rogers can place its infrastructure on a new tower. Other service providers may join the tower later, he said.

Residents objected to having a cell tower built beside their homes, some saying it would be an eyesore. One woman pointed out that the tower could strike the nearest home if it toppled over. Many said there is no need for it to be so close to the residential area.

“We’re just going to get bigger and stronger on this,” one woman told Leurebourg.

Another woman, who said she was a school teacher, told the room she was surprised because she never knew about the tower until a neighbour knocked on her door. She added she would be willing to knock on more doors and spread awareness to collect petition signatures.

Chris Bird, a resident near the cell tower site, started a petition against the proposal when he got a notice in the mail in July. He and a group of neighbours obtained about 13 signatures at first and then began to complain to the city. The effort led to Thursday’s town hall.

City of Brandon planners responded to public feedback this summer by requiring the proponent to hold a town hall and transferring the decision on whether to support the tower proposal to city council, Ryan Nickel, the city’s director of planning, told the Sun.

Bird said Thursday’s turnout was encouraging and that he was surprised by how many people have become involved.

“I feel very supported in the amount of community that came out,” he told the Sun.

His petition has grown to more than 100 signatures, with some being added at the town hall, he said

The next focus for protesters is to show city councillors how opposed they are, Bird said. When the tower comes up as an item for council to discuss, he said it’s important to showcase how many people are opposed, and he intends to make a case before council.

A date has not yet been set for when council will discuss the tower.

Resident Scott Third told the Sun he thinks that the problem lies with Brandon’s cell-tower policies. The issue is not just the individual tower proposed for his neighbourhood, he said, but the fact that it was allowed to be introduced so close to homes with only 31 properties alerted by mail.

“The process is flawed,” he said, adding he plans to continue advocating for support to make a change.

“We’re still going to continue to knock on doors, because there are people that we haven’t been in touch with yet.”

Staff in the planning department told the Sun in July that the city is reviewing its cell-tower policies.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com