Nanaimo’s Hammond Bay and Stephenson Point areas could be on track for better cellular phone coverage by the end of this year.
City council, at a meeting Monday, Feb. 24, voted to provide a letter of concurrence to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada supporting the proposed siting for a 63-metre cell tower on the Regional District of Nanaimo's Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control Centre property at 4600 Hammond Bay Rd.
Neighbourhood associations in Hammond Bay and Stephenson Point have pushed for improved cellular phone coverage for years, and efforts intensified in 2023 when area resident Ken Gillies suffered a heart attack while trying to drive to Nanaimo Regional Hospital and died after failed attempts by his wife and passersby to connect via cell phone with 911 dispatchers.
The letter to the federal regulator for telecommunication facilities represents the City of Nanaimo's support of an agreement between Telus and the RDN “for the placement, construction, and operation" of a cell tower on RDN land that will be shared by Telus and Rogers Communications Inc., notes city documents. The proposal includes a lattice tower with 19 antennas for multiple service providers and two utility buildings with a diesel tank and generator inside a 400-square-metre compound enclosed by a 2.4m chain-link fence.
Jeremy Holm, the city's director of planning and development, said consultation with property owners within three times the distance of the tower height was carried out this past fall. Of the 128 responses received, 13 community members expressed concern for the proposal and 115 supported the project, according to Cypress Land Services, an agent for Telus which conducted the survey and compiled the results. The Cypress report also noted that four community associations in the area collected support for the project from 141 community members. Concerns primarily regarded public safety and radio frequency output.
Coun. Janice Perrino asked about fast-tracking construction of the tower, and Telus representative Doug Anastos replied that the company doesn’t assign budgets to projects until it has gone through the entire consultation and approvals process.
“That said, we are at the point in the year here where it looks good to try to proceed this year…" he said. "I think what we would do is try to start construction this year and then see how far we can get. There still are quite a few parts to the process, including ordering towers, tendering the project and the like. It still is possible if we get the capital budget together and get rolling with it.”
Barry Leyseng, with the Linley Valley-Stephenson Point Neighbourhood Association, thanked council for its help to further the project’s progress, which he said is a “No. 1 priority" for the association.
“But we’re going to give you a reality check in that this tower is not going to service anything beyond Pipers Lagoon,” Leyseng said. “We’ve had a confirmation from Telus and Cypress Land and unfortunately, it’ll be minimal or no improvement, so there’s still two kilometres of the Hammond Bay Road corridor that we’re going to be looking for improvements and we look for your advocacy and support in that effort.”
Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog said he’s is in support of the neighbourhood association's request.
“Public safety demands it,” the mayor said.
Council voted unanimously to provide the letter of concurrence supporting the project.
