Northern Bruce Peninsula is holding off saying if it’s on board with a proposed cell tower.
Council approved deferring making a decision of either concurring or not-concurring with the proposed project at 75 Lindsay Road 40 during a meeting on April 22.
Council made the deferral as not all members of council were present at the meeting to share their thoughts, with Mayor Milt McIver and Coun. Aman Sohrab absent.
Deputy Mayor Rod Anderson says, “I’d be a lot more comfortable if we had everybody here with their individual opinions and votes and go from there, and then it is a clear indication of what we think.”
While the final decision to install the tower is up to Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada, council can still say if it’s on board with the project.
The proposed 90-meter tower was first proposed to Northern Bruce Peninsula by Shared Tower Inc. in June 2022 to improve service around Dyer’s Bay.
A commenting and reply period with residents ended in February, where the municipality received questions on health and safety, existing infrastructure and preserving dark sky related to the project.
There has been some push back from the community on the proposed tower with council recently reviewing a number of submissions from residents expressing opposition.
A report from Chief Building Official Wendy Elliott says, “the public expressed concerns regarding municipal liabilities should there be impacts on private property and public health because of the construction.”
Coun. Laurie Golden says she doesn’t believe any effort was made to correct any misconceptions about the project during the consultation period.
“I would be a huge hypocrite if I was to say that I considered this a comprehensive, un-biased and successful public consultation process,” says Golden. “My opinion would be it would be in everyone’s future best interest to restart this process with another agency rather than the proponent, directing for the the most part, part of the public consultation process. For that reason, I will be voting non-concurrence.”
