A telephone tower is coming to Pine Street in Porter Creek.
A bylaw to lease land to Bell Mobility Inc. passed third and final reading unanimously Monday night.
The city is in the process of purchasing the empty property at the south end of Pine Street from the Yukon government. It needs the land for a tower for the city’s water utility system.
Bell Mobility Inc. wants to build a tower on the property. The city wants to install its equipment for the water and sewage system on top of the tower. If Bell builds the tower, the city would save around $80,000.
The lease is for 10 years. It could be extended for another 25 years after that.
The agreement is similar to a lease the city has with Bell to build a tower in the Selkirk Street area of Riverdale. It reached that lease agreement last fall. The proposal concerned some residents, many of them parents who were worried about the impact electromagnetic radiation could have on children.
City staff attended a recent Riverdale Community Association meeting to address these concerns. The threat of electromagnetic radiation is not high, said Doug Maclean, president of the association. If parents do give their kids cellphones, they can tell them to hold them at least an inch away from their ears or send text messages, he said.