Council defers decision on cell phone tower until Sept. 19

City council will wait until Sept. 19 to make a decision on whether or not give its nod of approval to Industry Canada on a proposed 165-foot communications tower Bell Canada wants to erect on John Street Road.

The decision to defer sending the federal government agency a letter of non-concurrence – the city’s only defence to prevent the tower from being built – came after a short, but heated debate in council chambers on Monday night.

McIntyre Coun. Trevor Giertuga, in whose ward the tower would reside, expressed outrage after the deferral was okayed, saying nothing administration’s report or that Bell Canada could say will change either his mind or those of his constituents.

Giertuga, who argued heatedly with Coun. Iain Angus during the early stages of the debate, said he was furious some members of council admitted they didn’t read a package prepared for them by resident Attilio Garo.

Regardless, the project should not go ahead, he said.

“This is a 165-foot tower with flashing lights right smack-dab in the middle of a residential area surrounding it,” Giertuga said after council had rendered its decision.

“Council has just deferred this back to get more information on other proposed sites. Well, this is the only site we’ve had an issue with to date. Bell came with absolutely no answers to that initial (Aug. 3) meeting for the residents and now we’re saying we want to hear their answers. They should have been prepared.”

Giertuga said he’s convinced council will simply push through their backing of the project, and are just “going through the motions.”

He found an ally in Mayor Keith Hobbs.

“I don’t think towers should be in residential areas anywhere,” Hobbs said. “Towers do not belong in residential areas, period.”

Garo, who said Bell Canada paid them little more than lip service during the public meeting earlier this month, was upset at council’s decision.

“City council let me down. They asked for a petition. We got them a petition. They asked for a letter, I wrote them a letter and half the city council wouldn’t read the letter and weren’t informed. I can’t believe it. The (lack of) support we got from here is incredible.”

Garo confronted development services manager Mark Smith in the hallway outside of council chambers, seeking an answer why the city won’t send a letter of non-concurrence to the federal government. Though Ottawa has the final say on the location, approval at the municipal level is usually taken into consideration before the sites are given the OK.

Smith told him the five-week delay might actually work in their favour.

“We may have better reasons to oppose this. At the moment, we don’t. At the moment all we have is the knowledge that a whole bunch of people in the neighbourhood don’t like it. That’s all we have,” Smith said.

Regina Street resident Marian Giorgio said council made a mistake by comparing the proposed tower to the other 15 that can be found throughout Thunder Bay.

It’s comparing apples to oranges, she said.

“This tower is different. It’s in a residential area, with two schools within a kilometre distance, with people and new houses,” she said.

Coun. Aldo Ruberto, who was ready to give Industry Canada a piece of his mind and voted against the deferral, said there must be other options for the tower.

 “They’re a blight on our community,” he said. “Thunder Bay is a big city. There’s lots of land. I’m sure they can find a place to put it ... They had their shot. They blew it.”

However, his Current River counterpart Andrew Foulds is taking a wait-and-see approach.

“What became clear tonight that a decision was not time-sensitive and I frankly think as a councillor that I have the responsibility to make decisions based on all the information, for the citizens that live in that immediate area, but also citizens that live all over our city,” said Foulds, who noted his vote could go either way next month, depending on what he hears. 

He just isn’t ready to jump the gun just because a neighbourhood group is pressuring him to do so. He’d like to see the city create a firm policy that deals with every situation, not just one.

“These communications towers are going up ... and many of them are in residential areas. If the decision is made based on information not to put these in residential areas, I’d rather make a systemic decision, rather than a one-off decision.”

Council, by virtue of a 6-6 tie, rejected a earlier call by Coun. Rebecca Johnson to refer the decision back to administration for more information.