(submitted photo/ SaskTel)

By Nigel Maxwell

Boosting coverage

R.M. green lights new cell tower application

Nov 8, 2019 | 12:00 PM

The solution to addressing cell phone coverage in the Rural Municipality (R.M.) of Prince Albert appears to be location.

On Thursday, The R.M’s council approved an application for a brand new, 350-foot cell tower accompanied by a small building. The proposed location was off Highway 3 and Hazelwood Road, not that far from a previous application last September, which was shot down by council after an overwhelming negative response from landowners living nearby.

Barton Franc, the landowner who made the latest application, re-assured council the tower on his land would be a much more suitable area.

“It’s not up against any one house and it’s located along an all weather road so it should be compatible,” he explained.

Franc added he approached Sasktel because he wanted something done about the poor cell coverage in the area. Helen Plazko, 85, was among those who showed up at the public hearing and she echoed Franc’s concerns.

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“My cell doesn’t work and it’s a matter of safety to me,” she said.

The proposed cell tower and small building will occupy about 10 acres of land. (submitted photo/SaskTel)

To help avoid any concerns related to conflict of interest, Franc, who is also the Div. 3 councillor, excused himself from the council discussion and subsequent vote. Reeve Eric Schmalz said he thought Franc’s application was good and addressed any previous concerns related to the cell tower’s location.

“The possibility of this tower tipping over and landing on someone’s house is impossible,” he said.

The R.M.’s Planning Manager Jason Kaptein, who also recommended approval, explained from the mail-out he learned, only two landowners voiced strong opposition to the new application. It was a stark contrast from the previous application.

Div. 2 Councillor Tyler Hazelwood said he knew one of the complaints came from someone who did not live on the land, but still raised concerns related to impact on property value.

“If I own property across the road and I plan on sub-diving and selling it, and I thought my property value was going to go down, I probably would have gone to a real estate agent, had some back up and come to this meeting if I felt that strongly about it,” he said.

Hazelwood also expressed concerns council may receive some backlash over Franc’s vote in the previous application as it was the same applicant this time around.

The reeve clarified saying there was “no guarantee” in September that SaskTel would go back to Franc to make a new offer. He re-iterated Franc excused himself from Thursday’s vote, to show there was no conflict of interest.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell