Mayor Gregor Robertson is expected to introduce a motion looking at installing more cell phone infrastructure in Vancouver Tuesday morning.
Citing a demand of additional coverage and the need for more 4G infrastructure, the motion suggests Vancouverites are moving away from landlines.
Robertsons motion also wants staff to check out if V-poles, a combination of street lighting, cell tower, wireless network, pay parking service, electric car charging stations and more, could be used to address the growth.
The city, if the motions approved, would also report back on community concerns
Telus gets approval to add cellular poles along Beach Avenue
BY ZOE MCKNIGHT, VANCOUVER SUN JUNE 12, 2012 3:51 PM
Telus wants permission from the Vancouver park board to build three cellular poles along Beach Avenue, but not everybody is thrilled by the idea. “Health-wise, I don’t think it’s good to live that close,” said Beach Avenue resident Marie Coleridge. ”Having a cellphone tower so close to where I live, I’m not so keen on. Having three of them so close? I’m really not keen on it.”
Photograph by: Nick Procaylo , PNG
VANCOUVER — The Vancouver park board has approved a pilot project that allows Telus to build “monopoles” combining electric vehicle charging stations with wireless network infrastructure in the west end.
At a park board meeting Monday night, the seven commissioners voted unanimously to approve the project, which will allow Telus to build the pole-and-station structures at three locations near English Bay. The proposed sites are along Beach Avenue at Bute, Broughton and Bidwell.
Calling the project “very cool,” Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said the pilot project will be the first of its kind, anywhere. In design drawings, the electric vehicle charging stations are about five metres long and less than two metres wide, with an attached pole the same height as a street light. Telus expects to build all three by the end of the year, at an estimated cost of $1 million, including a $35,000 lease from the city for the spaces.
The park board will not be responsible for the hydro costs of the charging stations, said spokeswoman Joyce Courtney.
Though some neighbourhood residents told The Vancouver Sun they opposed the stations because of health and esthetic concerns, 85 per cent of the 170 survey responses received during community consultations supported the project.
Responding to safety concerns, Hall noted that cellular network providers rely on Safety Code 6, set out by Health Canada and Industry Canada to regulate wireless emissions. The poles do not provide Wi-Fi signals, just network coverage.
Without strengthening the wireless network in the area, parts of the west end could experience more dropped calls and signal “dead zones” as data-hungry smartphones and tablets increase demands on the system, Hall said.
According to the park board, the city expects 4.7 per cent of new vehicles will be electric by 2017 and plans to install 275 charging stations throughout Vancouver.
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