Little protest

Wind turbines they’re not.

A 30-metre cell phone tower Bell Canada wants to erect adjacent to the Neebing Roadhouse restaurant drew less than a handful of people on Friday to an open house the conglomerate hosted at a nearby community hall.

There’s just not much interest in the issue, said Dan Fiorito, who in fact only attended the meeting because he runs the South Neebing Community Centre, the venue where the gathering was held.

“I’ve talked to people in the neighbourhood and nobody’s really said anything about it,” Dan Fiorito said. “They haven’t given it a second thought.”

Though at least one man was there to protest what he thought was a much taller TBayTel-owned tower than is actually being planned, Dan Fiorito said the height should not be an issue in the neighbourhood.

“It’s no different than what’s behind the Tournament Centre right now. It’s (about) the same size tower. Like I said, it’s not a wind turbine, that’s for sure.”

South Neebing residents have spent much of the past two years fighting a proposed wind farm Horizon Wind Inc. plans to build on the Nor’Wester Mountain range, a fight that drew the city into a now-settled $126-million lawsuit.

The turbines, subject to provincial approvals, are still slated to go ahead.

The cell tower reaction was also much different at the Neebing location – officially listed as 2121 Highway 61 – than a John Street Road location, which saw more than 100 people ink their names to a petition opposing the 165-foot project.

The petition was delivered to city council last Monday night, a major factor in why council deferred a decision on whether or not to send Industry Canada a letter of non-concurrence, opposing the project. However, federal government policy dictates Industry Canada has the final say on site location and specifics, regardless of what council says.

Neebing Coun. Linda Rydholm, who arrived at Friday’s meeting just as curious as her constituents to see what Bell Canada, who declined to speak on the record, instead referring all interview requests to their head office.

Rydholm said nothing she saw about the plan scares her off. With the exception of a few residents on the other side of the highway, the tower will be mostly blocked from view by the restaurant and stands of tall trees.

“As far as I know the residents of South Neebing have a good level of comfort with the proposed cell tower at the Neebing Roadhouse location,” she said.

“This tower is to be only 30 metres high and there will be no light. So it’s not really going to be very noticeable.”

Although only two residents, as well as Neebing Roadhouse owner John Beals, who will benefit by about $6,000 a year by allowing Bell Canada to use his property to house the tower, showed up, the proposal isn’t without opponents.

Anna Marchese, in a letter to the editor sent to TB Newswatch, said she and her husband Steve Marchese chose to buy a home in a rural setting for a reason. Calling the proposed tower an eyesore, she said she’s not comfortable with more “visual pollution” in her neighbourhood.

“When choosing build our home in a newer development, one of the most important factors, besides being in a good, residential community, was the fact that we wanted underground services, eliminating the ugly wires and poles above ground. We wanted to not see any excess wires, poles, towers, etc., and especially did not want to see any evening visual lighting of any kind,” Marchese said.

“Rural means rural.”

Bell Canada is looking to enter the market to challenge city-owned TBaytel’s dominance in the wireless industry.