Gibsons residents have mounted a petition campaign calling on council to reject a proposal by Rogers Communication to install a wireless tower at the fire hall on North Road.
The petition was launched on the website change.org on April 9 and a week later had almost 90 supporters.
"We are concerned that the Town of Gibsons has not notified its residents of all the factors that come with technologies that emit continuous RF/MW radiation in close proximity of residential populations," said the petition.
Petition supporters cited health concerns over radiation exposure, lack of credible information, and the location's proximity to homes, schools and daycares.
Some of the same concerns were expressed during a community consultation event hosted by Rogers on March 25. Fifteen people attended, including some who were in favour of the installation.
In its summary of the event, consultant Standard Land said Pauline Pham of Rogers addressed health and safety concerns, claiming that for residents near the fire hall, a cell phone device emits more EMF energy than the tower itself would.
Including those forwarded from the Town Hall, Rogers received about 30 comment sheets from local residents, chief administrative officer Emanuel Machado told council at the April 9 committee of the whole meeting.
"In May they plan to follow up with us, and that's the time we would consider this proposal," Machado said.
Councillors did not discuss the summary report at the meeting, but resident Judith Hamill spoke briefly from the gallery, calling Canada's standards for wireless tower emissions "woefully outdated compared to Europe" and urging council "to do a lot more research into this."
Rogers approached local governments in January with the offer to replace the Gibsons and District Volunteer Fire Department's aging infrastructure with a new multi-use tower at no cost.
The tower would mean "enhanced radio communications to improve services and emergency response" and "would also result in a long-term revenue source through a commercial lease," the company said.
