A final stroke of the pen from the federal regulator is required to clear the way for improved wireless services in a north Nanaimo neighbourhood. (Google/NanaimoNewsNOW illustration)

By NanaimoNewsNOW staff

strong support

Nanaimo Council advances Hammond Bay cell tower proposal

Feb 25, 2025 | 5:30 AM

NANAIMO — An enduring reality of one-bar signal strength, dropped calls, or no service entirely along an extended stretch of Nanaimo’s Hammond Bay area appears to be fading away.

On Monday, Feb. 24, Nanaimo City Council unanimously issued a land use concurrence to allow TELUS in partnership with Rogers to place a 63-metre lattice tower on the Greater Pollution Control Centre site at 4600 Hammond Bay Rd.

Senior program manager with TELUS, Doug Anastos, told Councillors they’re yet to assign a capital budget to this project, standard procedure until consultation processes are completed and approvals are underway, however shovels could go in the ground quickly.

“I think what we would try to do is start construction this year and see how far we can get. There still are quite a few parts of the process, in terms of ordering towers, tendering the project and the like, but it still is possible if we get the capital budget together.

The tower itself would be 60 metres tall, with a three metre lightning rod placed on top.

wanted

Man wanted for sexual assault known to visit Nanaimo

32m ago

industry pressures

'It feels like a fail:' historic Nanaimo auto repair business shuts its doors

6h ago

Jailed

Prolific Nanaimo offender jailed 7+ years for fentanyl trafficking

20h ago

It would serve as a shared facility, with a number of service providers leasing space.

A City of Nanaimo staff report showed 115 of 128 responses were supportive of the application, while 13 respondents expressed public safety and radio frequency output concerns.

In addition, four local neighbourhood associations endorsed the much-discussed application.

Barry Lyseng spoke on behalf of the Linley Valley-Stephenson Point Neighbourhood Association on Monday night, thanking Council for their work but suggesting more needs to be done.

He said this project was “the number one priority” identified from engagement with the City in 2023.

“But we’re going to be giving you a reality check, in that this tower is not going to service anything beyond Piper’s Lagoon. We’ve had confirmation from Telus and Cypress Land [Services], it’ll be minimal or no improvement.”

Lyseng said roughly two kilometres of the Hammond Bay Rd. corridor would be left with minimal or no improvements as a result of this installation.

Illustration of pending enhanced wireless services in Nanaimo’s Hammond Bay area. (City of Nanaimo)

A federally mandated public consultation process last fall was overseen by a consultant, ultimately leading to resounding support.

Information packages were mailed out to residents and businesses within a nearly 200-metre radius of the tower as part of the consultation process.

While City Council approved the land use required for the tower, the final hurdle is receiving the blessing of the federal regulator, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED).

Should the proposal proceed as expected, the City staff report stated the cell tower would include 19 antennas for multiple providers.

“Approximately 31 trees are proposed to be removed to facilitate the construction and maintenance of the tower, however, the compound will remain screened from the road by existing buildings, retained vegetation and mature trees,” the report noted, which pointed out the tower would be situated about 200 meters from the nearest dwelling.

The RDN’s Pollution Control Centre property is poised to contain a cellular tower to vastly improve wireless services in the Hammond Bay area. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

According to ISED, all antenna towers in Canada must satisfy its general and technical requirements and comply with Health Canada regulations.

Health Canada established safety guidelines for radio frequency exposure limits, known as Safety Code 6, which ISED states imposes strict limits on the radio frequency energy sent out by any antenna tower.

Enhancing wireless services in Nanaimo’s vast Hammond Bay area has been a long time coming, spawning continuous complaints from area residents over the years including concerns about contacting 911 with mobile devices.

Prior cell tower proposals in the north Nanaimo neighbourhood were rejected by the Regional District of Nanaimo board and Nanaimo City Council in 2011 and 2014 respectively, following health and aesthetic concerns from local residents.

Proposed location of a new cellular tower to be established by TELUS in partnership with Rogers. (TELUS)

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your email inbox every evening.

info@nanaimonewsnow.com

Follow us on: Twitter (X) | Bluesky | Facebook