By Roy L Hales
TELUS has proposed a plan that would see five communication towers put up on the Discovery Islands. In a presentation to the Stracthcona Regional District (SRD) board meeting on Jan. 13, the company argued that it is hoping to improve dependability in the area's wireless service.
Three of these are on Cortes Island where the company already has land rights on two sites. TELUS owns property in Mansons Landing and has reached an agreement with a property owner in Squirrel Cove. The company is also looking for a Whaletown resident who is willing to host a tower on their land.
TELUS is looking for properties in Heriot Bay and Drew Harbour on Quadra Island, but has not yet identified any candidates.
Discovery Island Regional Director Jim Abram told two TELUS representatives at the board meeting that the company was "jumping the gun" by approaching property owners before consulting with the SRD.
“You have mentioned a number of times, on the flyer with the maps, that you haven’t picked a spot, but I am receiving calls from very elderly people on Quadra Island that they are receiving calls from your consultants offering them 30 year contracts at $1,000 a month to put a tower up on their properties," Abram said. "So you have obviously picked some sites, based on their geographic location, how far they reach etc. You have actually gone as far as going to these people and offering them large sums of money.”
TELUS is looking for a Whaletown property where they can erect a tower. Photo courtesy of TELUS’ Planned Wireless Service Improvements in the Discovery Islands presentation to the SRD Board on Jan. 13.
The property in Squirrel Cove where TELUS has a leasing agreement. Photo courtesy of TELUS’ Planned Wireless Service Improvements in the Discovery Islands presentation to the SRD Board on Jan 13.
“I’ve worked with TELUS since 1990, progressing our connectivity whether it be broadband, wireless or cell towers. Our service is still terrible, as they probably know," Abram added.
Brian Gregg of SitePath Consulting Ltd was part of the TELUS delegation.
“TELUS does not have dependable wireless service on Quadra and Cortes Islands, including the surrounding waterways. This not only poses an inconvenience, for people to remain connected, but also a public safety issue given that the majority of calls to emergency service responders are now placed through wireless devices, such as cell phones,” he said.
“For a number of years, we’ve been receiving a lot of customer complaints from community members, regarding a lack of service. With increased remote working during COVID-19 pandemic, those complaints have been escalating in your area and, frankly, across the country," he continued.
In an email, a TELUS spokesperson confirmed to Cortes Currents that “more than 70 per cent of phone calls to 911 these days come from a cell phone.”
If this project goes forward, it is expected that it would dramatically increase cellular service throughout the area which means residents and visitors could use their wireless devices (such as cell phones and tablets) to make phone calls, send emails and text messages and use the internet.
The current coverage are for wireless service in the islands. Dark green is “LTE super fast," light green is “Advanced — Ultra-Fast” and white is no service. Map screenshot courtesy of the TELUS website.
Will the sites be 5G?
Campbell River Director Charlie Cornfield asked if the service would be 5G.
Doug Anastos, Senior Program Manager of TELUS, explained that 5G would not be installed yet on the islands.
“Right now we are deploying 4G LTE service …It is a transitionary period right now. our network will transition over to 5G in the next several years. In a rural area like this, it is going to look a lot like 4G.”
Abram pointed out that there is a lot of public opposition to 5G.
“We are finding there are concerns with 5G technology. Power output is something that comes up; the frequency is another thing," Anastos responded.
“At the end of the day, 5G is not inherently unsafe as a technology," he added.
He explained that even at the base of cell towers, TELUS found the radiation from 4G or 5G to be “hundreds or even thousands of times below the safety standards.”
Abram responded to Anastos on the signal and frequency point.
“It is the people a mile away from the tower; where the signal is actually hitting the ground…that is where the penetration issue comes in. 5G has been talked about with remote automobiles and will probably be talked about with remote boats. Are we there yet? I don’t think so," he said.
Next steps
TELUS is ready to start the public announcement process in Squirrel Cove and Mansons Landing on Cortes Island:
- Information packages would be mailed to all property owners and occupants within a radius of three times the height of each proposed tower.
- TELUS stated that it would post a notice in The Discovery Islander newspaper.
“The final step is that all of this has to come back to the board for a decision. So us presenting to you today is obviously a very early on preliminary step. At the end of our consultation process, the board would have every opportunity to consider all the input we have received and make a decision on whether to grant land use,” Gregg said.
Rezoning the land
Cortes Island Regional Director Noba Anderson pointed out that on Cortes, the land that these towers stand on would need to be rezoned.
SRD Chief Administrative Officer David Leitch confirmed that the sites on both islands would need to be rezoned.
Anastos responded to both Leitch and Anderson about the federal regulation aspect.
“TELUS is federally regulated. Rezoning is not something that we seek or require from a federal regulation perspective, but we understands there are different requirements at play. This is something we can talk to staff about," Anastos said.
Anderson responded by saying that she was not aware that this was an optional process and would like to "dig into that" further.
Abram said that to rezone the area, it would require a public process to review whether the land use was permitted.
“That means you are going to have to go through a public process to rezone the property, as to whether the land use will be allowed … I want to be really clear on this, Quadra Island has not been an easy sell in the past. We went through this with Camtel Rogers, with a 350 foot tower," Ambram said. "A couple of years ago I got TELUS on it, which they were unable to do prior to that. They have done it and service is still absolutely abominable. So we need the service, but we also need public approval for that service. Site towers are always a contentious issue in the islands.”
A number of Cortes residents voiced their opposition to communications towers when the SRD gave an update on the Connected Coast project, on Nov. 5, 2019.
Anderson asked the TELUS delegation if they intended to apply for rezoning, as the CAO advised that it was required.
“It is something we will have to talk to further with staff. I have to say it is highly unusual for these types of areas to have a rezoning requirement. Also, understanding that the islands are very sensitive … At the end of the day, what we are seeking is the support of the board. If we do not have the support of the board, we will not be proceeding," Anastos replied.
SRD’s map of municipalities and regional areas. Photo courtesy of the SRD website.
Why not Area D?
While currently unknown how welcome the proposed towers would be on Cortes or Quadra Islands, Regional Director Brenda Leigh made it clear she would like them in Area D.
“I represent the area of Oyster River to the south end of Campbell River, and out towards Gold River. I have 5,000 people in my area. Half of my area is served by either TELUS or Shaw. We have high speed cable to the northern half of my area, but the southern half – which includes the Oyster River settlement area of 650 homes; York Road, which has 350 homes – has very poor, inadequate service. They have been phoning and complaining to me, steadily. I have an Advisory Commission which I can’t even have virtual meetings with because some of them live down York Road or Oyster River and they cannot connect reliably," Leigh said.
"So, since we already have fibre optic cable going down the island highway, I do not know why it would be so difficult for TELUS or Shaw, or someone, to extending the service to my community. Why are you looking at all the outer islands, that have half my population first instead of Area D?" she added.
Anastos replied to Leigh's inquiry on the Area D request.
“Just to be clear, Bryan and I are representing the wireless side of TELUS’ organization. We can certainly connect with the parts of TELUS that are responsible for our fibre network and take back these requests," Anastos said.