Lawrencetown residents take municipality to court over cell tower

Residents near Lawrencetown along Nova Scotia's eastern shore are taking the municipality ofHalifax to court over the location of a 76-metre Bell Mobility tower that's expected to be operational next month.

Doyle Safire, a resident of Lawrencetownfor 25 years, saidthe municipality didn't follow its own rules when it agreed to let Bell Mobility construct a cell toweronthe site, which is a few kilometres from Lawrencetown Beach in Three Fathom Harbour.

A group of residents asked for a judicial review of the decision,but even though a judge won't make a rulinguntil November, the cell tower went up this spring.

"What we wanted was the city and the telecommunication company to look at alternatives, to have a setback away from the beach so it wouldn't be so impacted," said Safire, who calls the tower an "eyesore."

'We still say no!'

Community members have been fighting against cell towers in the area for the past six years, and even put up highway signs that read, "Bell and Eastlink, we still say no!"

In 2012, their efforts seemed to work when Halifax filed a letter of non-concurrenceturning down a similarEastlink request. Then, in 2014, Bell Mobility made its own application to erect a tower.

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Safire said he doesn't have a problem with cell towers, but takes issue with how the municipality, telecommunication companies and Industry Canada determinewhere to put them.

"It's a consultation after the fact," he said."So it's not really consultation to find the ideal site. It really is a marketing campaign to sell the location, which they've already leased."

David Hendsbee, the Halifaxcouncillor for the area, said the landis zoned properly for telecommunications.

"Where it's located now in Three Fathom Harbour, it's probably one of the more ideal sites," he said."It's also far enough away from the beach view plane that it's a good spot for it to be."

Hendsbee said more telecommunication projectsare needed in theLawrencetown area to help withgaps in cell service.

Problems with the process

In an email to CBC News, Bell Mobility said testingis taking place now, and the tower isexpected to go live by mid-July. Eastlink also confirmed that it intends to put its own equipment on the tower.

Even if the tower stays, Safire said he wants residents in communities like Lawrencetownto know what they're getting into.

"We want to bring light to the process ofsiting, and the errors that have occurred, and how do we develop a plan that will allow for appropriate siting to build infrastructure for Nova Scotia that also takes into consideration our scenic coastline," he said.