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Council declines proposal for new cell tower
City of Cranbrook council voted Monday (May 11) to not support a proposal by Freedom Mobile to locate a cell tower, ancillary infrastructure and access road on city owned lands at 2025 8th Avenue South.
Freedom initially approached the city in 2018 and at the direction of city administration, the company prepared preliminary plans and completed public consultation in 2020.
Consultation included direct mail notification of all property owners within 120 metres of the property, notification in the local paper and a public open house held on February 4. In addition, the city received a letter and a petition not supporting the proposal on April 14.
Council’s vote went against administrative staff support for the placement of the tower.
“Staff from Planning, Engineering and Community Services have all been involved in discussions and site visits with representatives from Freedom as they explored the use of city lands. Based upon the discussions, staff feels this may be an opportunity for “win-win” situation, for both Freedom and the city,” a Development Services report to council noted.
“While going through the process with Freedom, staff have come up with an option for the lease funds which we hope council will consider endorsing. Since the proposed tower would be located on a piece of land dedicated as park, and there is often limited budgets for park improvements such as equipment etc., staff is recommending that the funds collected as the lease payment be directed to a new reserve to be established for the purposes of park improvements rather than the money going to general revenue. By supporting the collection of funds in a separate reserve, the city can benefit from future improvements to this and other parks from the payments made from the cell tower lease. If approved and renewed for the duration of the 20 years proposal the city could see approximately $280,000 in revenue which could be directly utilized for park improvements or be leveraged for things like grants for parks,” the Development Services report stated.
The undeveloped parkland at 2025 8th Avenue South (about one block north of Columbo Lodge) is approximately 3.4 ha (8.5 acres) in size. The area required for the proposed tower is 100-square-metres, representing less than 0.5% of the total land area of the park, the report continued.
“In addition, the proposed location is anticipated to have little or no effect on park development should the lands ever be developed as its proposed location is in the southwestern most corner of the lot. Currently there are no short or long term plans to develop these lands for park use and are likely to remain as-is for the foreseeable future,” the Development Services report said.
Above map provided by City of Cranbrook
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