Cellphone antenna wins D.D.O. approval

Residents not worried, mayor says of lease

A new cellphone antenna being erected near Sommerset St. and De Salaberry Blvd. won’t be a bother to any residents, according to Dollard-des-Ormeaux Mayor Ed Janiszewski.

Last week, council approved a lease agreement with Rogers Communications Inc. allowing the company to install an antenna on top of an existing lamppost along the Hydro-Québec easement near Sommerset.

“It’s a couple hundred yards away from the nearest homes,” Janiszewski said. “We spoke to the resident closest by and they weren’t concerned.”

The town will lease the site to Rogers.

The mayor said the financial de- tails still have to be finalized.

Rogers had faced public backlash in the past year regarding cellphone antenna installations in other West Island municipalities.

In May, the telecommunications company agreed to relocate a tower from a site adjacent to homes on Morris Ave. near Claude Ave. in Dorval onto the nearby grounds of the Sarto Desnoyers Community Centre. A month later in Kirkland, Rogers agreed to dismantle a tower under 15 metres in height which it had erected in a residential yard on Acres St.

Residents in Pointe-Claire also fought to have Rogers reconsider a proposed 22.5-metre tower for Beck Park near Delmar and St. Louis avenues. In April, the company announced it had reached a compromise acceptable to nearby residents. Rogers said it would first put up a new tower on Reverchon Ave., an industrial street, to improve network coverage in the area and would only install three smaller lamppost antennas in Beck Park if they were still required.