While many residents in east Calgary would like a little better Telus mobility signal, they feel opposition to a proposed new cell tower isn’t getting the reception it deserves.

A proposed 37m monopole tower (35-metre tower with a two-metre lightning rod) is slated for construction at the Lynnwood Shopping Centre at 7005 – 18 Street SE.

At issue for residents is that a Rogers tower is planned for construction at the Jack Setters Arena, within a few hundred metres of this proposed site.  

Zev Klymochko, vice-president of the Millican-Ogden Community Association, which also encompasses the community of Lynnwood, acknowledged that they need a better Telus service in the area. But area residents feel more effort should have been made to work with Rogers to combine the services in one location.

“That location has already gone through all the pain, I guess you could say, of the approval, like people complaining, petitioning and whatnot. That’s all done. People have accepted it,” Klymochko told LWC.

According to the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada website dedicated to questions about cell towers, it does talk about what companies must do when considering new towers.

“Investigate sharing or using existing infrastructure before proposing new antenna-supporting structures,” reads the first point.

According to Telus, they did contact Rogers about potential co-location of resources at the site.

“We’re always looking for ways to enhance connectivity to provide our customers with the best network experience, and where possible, we explore partnering with other providers, taking into consideration existing and proposed sites and their locations, current coverage and gaps, and customer demand,” read an email response from a Telus spokesperson.

“We engaged Rogers early on in our process, but they were not able to commit to a firm construction and co-location timeline; given our desire to improve coverage for the community as quickly as possible, we moved forward with our own proposal.”

The Rogers tower had a development permit expiry of mid-2026, according to Klymochko. That would have left a brief window for construction early in the year, he said.

City has little to no authority: Carra

Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said that only in cases where its city-owned land could they have any say in where a cell-tower is put up. While it does go through a regular development permit process, the City doesn’t dictate whether a tower can be built.

“This is a private company. It’s federally regulated. We have very little control over that,” Carra told LWC.

Carra empathizes with residents to the extent that there should have been a co-location of the equipment on the nearby Rogers tower.  After that, he said cell phone towers are no different than dealing with the railroad going by, having planes overhead, or seeing telephone poles in neighbourhoods. It’s the “accouterment of civilization,” he said.

“My counterpoint is that we all use cell phones all the time,” Carra said.

“I just don’t find a cell tower to be as much of an affront to my personhood and to the character of my neighbourhood, I think, maybe as the average bear does.”

Klymochko said that many of the people across the street are seniors, renters, and new Canadians who just don’t feel like they’ve had a voice in the process.  He said that a registered letter was apparently sent to the community association, but nothing has been received.  An in-person consultation was done in July—mid-summer—and it wasn’t well attended, Klymochko said.

Further, Klymochko said, typically, there’s supposed to be a sign on the site when a development permit has been sought, providing a phone number or email address to comment on the project. It doesn’t have that for the antennae.

“The package goes to the councillor and the community association, and right in the package, it says, ‘Do not share the contents of this package. If someone wants to comment, they can call planning development or email us.’ But how do they know?” he said.

“There’s no way for someone to know that they can do that, because we’re the only ones that have that information, and if they’re saying that, we’re not allowed to share it, what do we do?”