Council give the go ahead for negotiations for a Rogers Tower to be built in Crowsnest Pass.
LINDSAY GOSS
Pass Herald Reporter
At a regular council meeting held on Tuesday, June 4th, Council gave Administration the approval to negotiate an agreement to construct two telecommunications towers on Municipal Property.
The first proposed tower that was suggested to council and administration was a tower to be built in Hillcrest, approximately 300 km north from the nearest residential zone. The tower is required by Rogers engineers to close gaps in the coverage area and expand the network t provide enhanced capacity for subscribers.
To date, the existing Telus tower and the land use allocated owned lands have been the only candidates evaluated by Rogers, due to the fact that the defined search area is limited and the land use in this area was deemed acceptable for a telecommunications facility.
“We want to work with you but we want it to be as unobtrusive as possible,” said Mayor Decoux. We want to keep it camouflaged as much as possible,” said Decoux, expressing some concern for the large tower’s appearance.
The second proposed tower is a tower to be built in Blairmore. The original search area for the proposed tower was within the downtown core of Blairmore. The search area included the existing Telus tower which was considered as well as a potential location on Canadian Pacific Rail lands.
During an April 11th conference between Cavalier Land and the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, it was discussed that another tower would not be preferred in the downtown core and the Municipality suggested a different location, near the water reservoir.
The land is currently owned by Devon Canada Corporation, but ownership will be changed over off to the Municipality in the near future.
The location has been accepted by Rogers, as long as the location can still be able to meet the necessary locations.
Frank Besinger Director of Planning, Engineering and Operations first brought the telecommunications towers to council’s attention, at a regular council meeting held on Tuesday, April 16th.
