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Norfolk wants escape clause in tower contract
Simcoe Reformer
Updated 16 days ago
Norfolk County is exercising more caution in its approach to cellphone towers.
Last week, Bell Mobility was asked to accept a clause in a county contract which would require the company to remove its cellphone infrastructure from the Port Dover water tower if evidence emerges that microwave radiation poses a threat to public health. Lawyers for the county and Bell Mobility are reviewing the request.
"It's not just a matter of putting those words in there," Bernie Dawtrey, Norfolk's manager of environmental services, said yesterday. "They become part of the legal document."
Bell Mobility recently notified Norfolk that it wants to upgrade cellphone transmitters on the Port Dover water tower. The company's goal is to improve cellphone service in this part of Norfolk.
If the work proceeds, Norfolk's contract with Bell will have to be modified because the space the company occupies will increase significantly. Last week, Norfolk council asked staff to secure a clause pledging Bell to remove the equipment if Health Canada determines that microwave energy related to cellphone use is a hazard to human health.
Dawtrey said Norfolk's legal advisers also want to research the request before committing the plan to paper.
Accusations have dogged Norfolk council in recent years that the Rogers cellphone transmitter on the Simcoe water tower is causing health problems in the area of Elgin Avenue Public School. Council has asked Rogers to consider moving the equipment but the company has declined.
If Bell goes ahead with the modifications in Port Dover, the company's lease fee will rise from $14,000 a year to $17,000 until 2013. This in turn will rise to $20,000 a year from 2013 until the end of the agreement in 2018.
