Fast cellphone service is almost a requirement for many people, but with that comes the need for cell towers, sometimes in undesirable locations.
For Briarwood Park, an unwanted tower has left residents wondering why they didn’t’ have a say. “Nobody was really made aware that it was going up, I was just walking one day and it was being erected,” said Cory Williams, a resident in the area.
The city changed the process for companies putting up towers in January, cutting out public consultation for towers of a certain height and proximity to infrastructure.
“The cell providers are trying to be good corporate citizens, and I believe they’ve put up a number of these towers, so we as a policy tried to make it less onerous on them,” said Eric Olauson, city councillor for Ward 8.
Olauson said SaskTel didn’t make it clear what type of tower they’d be installing, and he’s fielded several calls from angry residents, prompting him to take action. “On Monday I asked for that policy to be changed so that at least the ward councillor and the community association were at least told,” he said.
Most people who don’t like the tower admit that it’s necessary for good service, but their problem is its location. It’s near a busy park and in front of what many consider the defining feature of the neighbourhood.
“There’s plenty of areas around that are open fields that could it could have been in instead of smack between a park and a lake,” Williams said.
SaskTel maintains the tower is within the guidelines defined by the city.
“This location was chosen because it was central to an area that needed to be covered and it was placed on a right of was SaskTel fibre facilities run on that side of the road,” said SaskTel director of external communications, Michelle Englot.
A SaskTel representative is expected to be at a public meeting in Briarwood on July 10 to answer questions from the public.
But Williams isn’t holding out much hope. “It’s after the fact. It’s already up. I don’t think they’ll take it down at this point.”
