Council has high ambitions for cell service in the Wyebridge and Wyevale areas.
They wanted Adam Fulford, director of land services for CanACRE Ltd., to consider taller towers than the ones proposed in the report shared with council committee Monday.
Fulford talked about two Bell towers with one 46-metres high installed at the Wyevale fire station and the second at the Wyebridge Community Centre standing 35- metres tall. He added that the company had considered 53-metre-high towers, but those would interfere with the aesthetics of the area and require Transport Canada lighting and markings.
Fulford explained that the two locations had been determined as the best options as they offered broader network coverage since they would be closer to residential areas, greater aesthetics impacts and would not require Transport Canada lighting and markings.
Council had questions around the height of the towers, starting with Deputy Mayor Steffen Walma.
"If you were to decrease the tower size, does it have a negative effect on range and coverage?" he asked. "I also feel like by lowering the tower height you diminish the capacity of that tower to co-locate with other agencies."
Fulford said taller towers would improve coverage, capacity and provide access to more people.
"That being said, the primary objective is to provide services to those core centres," he added. "It isn't that we don't want to provide services to those outside the good coverage area, but we have to balance the perceived negative (aesthetic) impacts."
As well, said Fulford. taller towers would require Transport Canada lighting and markings, exponentially increasing impacts to host communities.
"We're trying to minimize those requirements and potential impacts," he said.
Coun. Tony Mintoff said it seemed short-sighted to put a shorter tower in Wyevale.
"For how long we've suffered, I don't think anybody gives a hoot about it," he noted. "The trees around it are quite high and at some point those trees will interfere with the signal. I would encourage Bell to look at a higher tower."
Mintoff also asked about camouflaging the towers to reduce aesthic impacts.
"If aesthetics were not a concern, we would be proposing taller towers," said Fulford.
As for camouflaging, he said, the cost for model pine towers could prohibit the project.
"The other option is decorative trifold towers," said Fulford. "They're also considerably more expensive, but not prohibitely so. The lattice trifold design (proposed) is a lot more unobtrusive. These fit the cost profile for both of the projects."
As for what happens when fibre-optic networks come to the area, he said, it's common practice to extend tower elevations when it is required down the road.
As well, Fulford said the more space there is on a tower and the higher it is, the more opporunity there is for co-location, which would allow another company to also use them while paying rent to Bell.
"The Wyevale is taller so it will have opportunities for co-location for another career if they reach out to do so in future," he said. "There are still opportunities in the future to increase elevations if that's going to benefit the service area."
Mintoff suggested the question around the height of the towers be put to the public during the consultation session, for which a date is yet to be determined.
