Rutland community residents say they are getting static from the city regarding a proposed Rogers cellphone tower planned for the southwest community.
Rutland resident Wayne Frisch claims the City of Calgary erroneously drew up a range of homeowners living within 300 metres of the tower site. He says all applicable homeowners should have been notified by Rogers about the proposed 25-foot tower planned for the Grace Lutheran Church.
“The city in over-extending itself plotted the 300 metres incorrectly and gave an incomplete list (of homeowners) to Rogers, so we feel this makes the Rogers application incomplete,” Frisch alleged.
But the city disagrees and senior planner Nick Makale said the city did everything by the books, including an open house information session, and the application will ultimately be up to Industry Canada to approve.
“We followed the protocol and the process properly and we feel we have done everything right. This is what we do for our job,” Makale said.
But fellow Rutland Park resident Rod Morgan said 90 per cent of the community does not want the tower.
“We feel like they have been almost deceptive in the process and it’s disappointing,” he said.
Makale said Rogers actually went above and beyond in contacting residents living within 300 metres of the site, since federal law stipulates the company only needed to reach those living within 75 metres.
“And the point of placing it by the church is to camouflage the tower behind the tallest building in the neighbourhood,” he added.
But residents aren’t buying it and have even approached area MLA Alison Redford, who wrote a letter to the city last week regarding her concerns about the consultation process.
Rogers Communications could not be reached for comment.
