Town adopts new protocol for towers

The Town of Halton Hills has adopted a telecommunication towers protocol, which will guide staff when making recommendations to the federal government about proposals. The Town does not the final say about the location of these towers within its boundary-- that's the jurisdiction of the federal government. This protocol is only designed to provide Town staff guidance before providing comments on the proposal. Councillor Joan Robson questioned whether the wording "strongly discouraged" had enough force when referring to the location of towers within environmentally sensitive areas. Director of Planning Bruce MacLean told her "strongly discouraged" is equivalent to "prohibit-- we don't want them there". "But I cannot give you assurance that maybe the odd situation which arises wherein it is located in some area which some people think is environmentally sensitive." But he added in his negotiations during past experiences with those trying to get the tower, "our words carried significant weight," he said. Robson requested, and got, a revision to the protocol asked that a project be considered `minor', provided that the height did not exceed the original design by 10-15 per cent.