The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

•T h e IF P • H alto n H ills, Thursd ay, N ovem b er 28, 2013 3 Our 14th Annual To book an Appointment, please call: 905-877-7958 or www.hassellautomotive.com As our thank-you to all of our great customers, regulars and new, please accept from us: 45 MOUNTAINV IEW RD. N . , GEORGETOWN AUTOMOTIVE SALES & SERVICE 12-pack of Pop • $5. Tim Horton's gift card • Jug of Windshield Washer Fluid Our 14th Annual Change engine oil & filter, lubricate (excluding synthetic) Rotate & balance tires as necessary Check all fluid levels Check brakes, steering, suspension, exhaust & fuel system Check vehicle for tune-up Scan computer for codes • • • • • • Opponents to Stewarttown cell tower voice concerns A litany of complaints from local resi- dents repeatedly prevented a Rogers' rep- resentative from outlining the company's plan to build a 30-metre wireless tele- communications antenna monopole on a corner of the St. John's Anglican Church property in Stewarttown during a public meeting Monday. The 30-inch diameter monopole, with- out antenna attachments, will have a small base antenna station-- the size of a shed-- fenced and landscaped. At this time no lighting or painting is expected to be required. Several, of the approximately 20 resi- dents who attended, hijacked the meeting, hosted by Rogers representative Sean Gal- braith of the Proliferate Consulting Group at The Club at North Halton Monday night, even shouting down a Stewarttown woman who supported the proposal. Their complaints ranged from health dangers from the wireless signal, reduced property values and difficulty selling their homes, a visual eyesore, the proximity of the pole to nearby homes (70 metres) and Stewarttown school (150 m), an unproven need for an additional pole, inconsisten- cies in the presentation of information and the lack of notification for both resi- dents and parents of Stewarttown School students about the project. The residents asked that the pole be moved to either the new 1,000-acre urban expansion lands or to Trafalgar Sports Park. Galbraith explained the Town has set a policy that no installations be placed on the 1,000 acres until the Vision George- town (www.visiongeorgetown.ca) plan- ning process is done. A pole at the Trafalgar Sports Park would be too close to a nearby Rogers antenna installation also serving Georgetown to be effective, he said. With- in the 1.7 km search area, the southwest corner of the St. John's parking lot was the best location. He said Rogers attempted to contact an affected local farmer in the area but calls were not returned. A man in the audience disputed this, saying he repre- sents the farmer and received no such call. Galbraith said in his introduction that, with the proliferation of smart phones and data devices like tablets and iPads, the wireless net- work is "in dire straits". The demand for wireless service in Georgetown is high with too little capacity in the existing antenna sites, he said. Adding more capacity at those sites would not im- prove wireless services in the Stewarttown area due to the dis- tance and topography of the town, he said. Across Canada the wireless data net- work is increasing by 5 per cent per week, and as the capacity demand grows, the coverage area of each antenna installation decreases. He says the wireless tower is being placed at that location to serve the Stewarttown and Stewarts Mill areas and to increase available capacity at the exist- ing antenna sites serving Georgetown. But many residents at the meeting claimed they had no problems with their wireless service. A cross-debate developed in the audi- ence, when one woman stood up saying she lives in the Stewarttown valley where wireless reception is limited. She recount- ed the story of her mother who required medical help during a power outage, and the daughter had to drive around to find cell phone reception. The protesting resi- dents shouted her down demanding to know if she wanted a cell tower in her backyard. The woman shouted back that she would if it meant wireless service when her mother required it. Galbraith said the new pole on the ridge would send signals into the valley, to which resi- dents shouted, "Put it down in the valley." But Galbraith explained If a pole was placed in the Stewarttown valley, its height would have to be increased for the signal to get out of the valley and reach the users. A Black Creek Ct. woman wondered why fibre optics is not promoted. Galbraith answered, while the antenna installation would be serviced by fi- bre optics, it doesn't do anything for a wireless network. A Belmont Cres. man, who said his wireless works fine, added, "I'd rather pay a little more than have my daughter (who attends Stewarttown School) exposed to a wireless tower." Galbraith said Rogers complies with Health Canada's requirement of Safety Code 6. The RF (radio frequency) energy emitted The RF energy emitted at the 70 m point from the tower would only be approximately 0.95% of the Safety Code 6 allowance and at the 150 m point (the school's property line) it would only be ap- proximately 0.5% of the total Safety Code 6 allowance. "Is this a done deal?," another woman demanded. "I think you should look at other locations that doesn't affect the com- munity." "In terms of the antenna installation lo- cation, this is the site we're going forward with," answered Galbraith, adding that a 20-year lease has been signed with the An- glican diocese. Industry Canada is the governing body on all wireless towers and will make the final decision. The Town is only a com- menting agency. Galbraith said the Town provided Rog- ers with a notification list and letters were mailed out- although many said they re- ceived nothing and knew about the meet- ing via an ad in Oct. 31 Independent & Free Press. The Halton District School Board did receive notification of the public meeting concerning the placement of a cell tower near Stewarttown Public School, said HDSB Chief Information Officer Bruce Smith. "And further, in terms of our position regarding the placement of cell towers near schools, we have been advised by Halton Region's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Bob Nosal, that there is no convincing evidence weak radio frequen- cy signals from cell towers cause adverse health effects," said Smith in an email. Residents gasped when Galbraith said that Industry Canada does not consider property or health impacts, or local plan- ning decisions when making its decision. The public is welcome to provide feedback through December 6. The approval sched- ule will be determined by the municipal- ity, and construction is dependent upon approvals. Ideally, Rogers would like to construct this facility in 2014 if possible, said Galbraith. Who to contact: • Send comments, with the reference # C4286 to: Sean Galbraith, Municipal Affairs Manager, Proliferate Consulting Group, 21A Price St., Toronto, ON, M4W 1Z1 or email, sgalbraith@proliferate- group.com • For more information about Town's telecommunications tower protocol, con- tact Kelly Patzer, kellyp@haltonhills.ca, 905-873-2601, ext. 2252 or go to www.hal- tonhills.ca/initiatives/telecommunication- tower.php • Industry Canada, Central and West- ern Ontario District, 4475 North Service Rd., Suite 100, Burlington, Ontario, L7L 4X7, spectrum.cwod@ic.gc.ca. • For more about the use of WiFi in HDSB schools go to http://www.hdsb.ca/ aboutus/IT/Pages/WirelessInformation. aspx By CYNTHIA GAMBLE Staff Writer Rogers representative Sean Galbraith of the Proliferate Consulting Group ad- dresses the audience Monday. (Below) The planned monopole. Top photo by Cynthia Gamble Bottom photo submitted