People concerned about where a new communications tower will be erected on PKOLS (formerly Mount Douglas) hope to find out more tomorrow when Saanich hosts an open house to discuss the upcoming upgrade.

The current tower, which the district calls a “critical component of public safety and cell phone communications in the region,” has aged out and is being replaced to adhere to new federal regulations that come in next year.

But where to put it? While some are concerned for the preservation of the flora, the new tower will be heavier and larger which may mean it won’t be placed in the current location.

“Everything that I've seen says it's going to be located in the upper parking lot,” Darrell Wick of the PKOLS-Mount Douglas Conservancy—a non-profit that has been working to protect the natural element of the park since 1988—tells Capital Daily.

He says last month Saanich workers conducted “a test drill right in the centre of the parking lot right where we guessed they were going to do it.”

Parking lot location not ideal, Conservancy says

He also says he’s under the impression the top of the new tower was to be placed at the same elevation as the current one, and since Saanich’s request for proposals (RFP) indicates the new tower will be 10m taller at 40m, it will have to be placed in the parking lot, which is approximately 10m lower than the summit where the current tower sits.

Wick says plunking the new tower in the middle of the parking lot would ruin the view.

“If you're walking up the trail up to the main summit, all you're going to have is this big tower in your face.” He says it’ll also take up some of the dozen or so parking stalls.

“If they put the tower in the parking lot, put a protective barrier around it to keep cars from ramming it, by the time they do that, we’re probably gonna lose half the parking spaces.”

Calls to several Saanich councillors weren’t returned in time for publication.

Disappointed with public consultation process

Wick also says while Saanich has held bona fide consultation processes in the past, “this consultation is just the minimum that is required by federal regulations.”

He says Saanich’s council has kowtowed to the cellphone companies who want a bigger tower, leaving only one spot for it. 

 “The people responsible for the tower do not get the final decision,” he tells Capital Daily.

“They have to bring it back to council for final approval before any construction can proceed,” he says.

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