{"id":15462,"date":"2015-01-27T11:36:26","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T18:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=15462"},"modified":"2019-06-27T11:36:50","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T18:36:50","slug":"first-two-cell-towers-rejected-under-new-langley-township-policy-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=15462","title":{"rendered":"First two cell towers rejected under new Langley Township policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"lead\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Langley Township believed to be first community in Metro Vancouver to order referenda on cell towers.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"author-meta\">\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a class=\"byline\" style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.langleyadvancetimes.com\/author\/dan-ferguson\/\" rel=\"author\">DAN FERGUSON<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Jan. 13, 2015 1:00 p.m.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The first test of a new Langley Township cell tower policy that requires a poll of people near a proposed project did not go well for the phone companies, with the rejection of the first two towers presented under the new rules.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Telus wanted to fill in coverage gaps and reduce dropped calls by building two new towers, one 45 metres tall at 4997 256 St. and the other 50 metres tall at 20470 88 Ave.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They were the first cell towers to be considered since the Township adopted a new process in September, 2013, following several drawn-out public hearings on cell tower placement in Langley.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is believed the Township is the first Metro Vancouver community to order referenda on cell towers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The new municipal \u201ctelecommunication tower policy\u201d requires an 80 per cent \u201cyes\u201d vote from people living near any proposed new cell phone antenna installation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Under the new rules, cellphone companies have to poll residents within a 500 metre radius of a proposed tower.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Ballots are mailed out, and any that don\u2019t get returned are considered to be \u201cno\u201d votes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Telus didn\u2019t even come close to the 80 per cent \u201cyes\u201d target on either tower proposal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The 256 Street project netted less than 10 per cent mail-in support, while the 88 Avenue project was below seven per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When the two projects came back to council in December, a majority voted to inform Industry Canada, the federal agency that has final say over cell towers, that neither was supported.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Because Industry Canada could still decide to allow construction, Councillor Bob Long convinced the rest of council to add a request for a more esthetic tree-like tower design if they do go ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Two more cell tower projects are being processed under the new policy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Telus tried to talk council out of the new approach before it was approved, arguing the 80 per cent requirement would be all but impossible to achieve.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Government affairs manager Chad Marlatt said Telus knows most people don\u2019t want a cell tower near their homes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Usually, he said, only 10 per cent of nearby residents will support a new cell tower.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">While the Township doesn\u2019t actually have legal authority to prevent construction of cell towers, Marlatt said Industry Canada, the federal authority that does have the power, will likely defer to the Township.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Marlatt said Langley needs to upgrade its cell networks to keep up with \u201coverwhelming\u201d demand from a rapidly growing community, and that means upgrading existing towers and adding new ones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He said Langley currently has the second highest number of complaints about cell service in B.C., but was unable to provide specific numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.langleyadvancetimes.com\/news\/first-two-cell-towers-rejected-under-new-langley-township-policy\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Langley Township believed to be first community in Metro Vancouver to order referenda on cell towers. DAN FERGUSON\u00a0\u00a0Jan. 13, 2015 1:00 p.m. The first test of a new Langley Township cell tower policy that requires a poll of people near a proposed project did not go well for the phone companies, with the rejection of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,103,28,98,728,729],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bc","category-canada","category-cell-tower","category-langley","category-referenda-on-cell-towers","category-telecommincation-tower-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15463,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15462\/revisions\/15463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}