Simulated photo of the tower taken from the package delivered to the Municipality, as viewed looking southeast from Highway 3 and 18 Avenue. Rogers photo.
Nicholas L. M. Allen
Jun 14, 2023
“They don’t have our best interests in mind,” said Mayor Blair Painter.
There has been various opposition to the proposed cell tower being built by Rogers Communications, including landowners and the municipal council.
On June 6, the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass voted in favour of writing a letter of non-concurrence for Rogers proposed tower location as they were unhappy with the consultation process.
“They don’t have our best interests in mind,” said Mayor Blair Painter.
Terry Kenney, owner of Crowsnest River RV Park, also voiced concerns about the consultation process after sharing how the tower’s height and width are going to block the view of all his guests at the RV park.
“The company that was doing the work for Rogers had indicated that there was a great possibility that Rogers would be willing to move the tower to a different location on the same property,” said Kenney, “They actually sent me a drawing showing me where they would like to relocate it to and I suggested a little further away, so it would be partially hidden by some trees.”
He said the consultation company claimed they were willing to look at changing the tower’s location but after the 21-day period ended, they told him they were no longer interested in talking about it.
“Rogers was going to leave it in the same place because I was the only person that objected to it. Very unfortunate, very disappointing,” said Kenney.
Councillor Vicki Kubik shared how she felt nervous going against a major business like Rogers but felt it is council’s duty to the residents to protect their interests.
“I have a problem with the fact that the consultative process sounds to me like it was just something they do on paper, they don’t really take [the concerns] into consideration and that rubbed me the wrong way,” said Kubik.
Council eventually decided to write a letter of non-concurrence to voice concerns over how the consultation process was held. Kenney hopes they move the tower, but recognized it is unlikely to happen.
“In a perfect world, I’d like them to relocate the tower to a totally different spot that doesn’t impair the view of the valley. Everybody that travels through the Crowsnest Pass is now going to see that tower,” said Kenney.
He said he is upset more people were potentially unaware of the proposed tower and thinks there might have been a lot more pushback on the development. He called the way Rogers went through the consultation process as “disappointing and disheartening” when they refused to reconsider the location.
“I think everybody throughout the Crowsnest Pass would be a lot happier,” said Kenney
Cypress Land Services, the company running the consultation process for Rogers Communications, responded only after multiple attempts to contact and passed on the request for an interview to Rogers. Rogers failed to respond before press time.