Wānaka’s community board has expressed frustration about the notification of new cell phone towers being left to the “eleventh hour”.

The issue was raised at yesterday’s (Thursday February 20) first Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board (WUCCB) meeting for the year, when considering a Connexa application for a new cell tower at Forest Heights Reserve.

WUCCB chair Simon Telfer said he was “very surprised” that Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) had received no public feedback on the notification, despite it having been advertised in the Otago Daily Times and the Wānaka Sun.

“I think we need to act on these things sooner, and not at the eleventh hour,” he told QLDC parks property planner Matt Judd.

Deputy mayor Quentin Smith (who is not a member of the WUCCB but attends the meetings) asked Matt if QLDC had advised all landowners adjoining the reserve a cell tower was proposed; the answer was ‘no’, but, Matt said, “It’s a question of how far you go with that notification”.

“They’re either on an adjoining property or they’re not,” Quentin said. “It is a matter of procedure.”

A resident near the proposed cell tower site told the Wānaka App they were surprised to read about the proposed cell tower in the WUCCB agenda.

“I didn't know anything about it, and it is in my backyard,” the resident, who asked not to be named, said.

The resident questioned whether QLDC’s approach to notification was adequate, adding that the fact council received no submissions on the issue was “a red flag”.

“Some issues are more scintillating than others, but my suspicion is that people didn’t know about it rather than people didn’t care,” they said. “I do think some scrutiny in general would be in order. [It is] symptomatic of how anyone is supposed to participate in democratic practice if the quality of engagement is not good enough.”

Quentin told the Wānaka App “we could definitely do more than the legal minimum of a newspaper notice”.

He added that the board must “really [put] pressure on the telecom companies to fulfil their industry best practice required by the code of practice”. 

“Council often get blamed for cell towers like at Hāwea and even Dungarvon Street. This just reinforces [that] council and community have little control over them and that the processes don’t really work that well for stakeholders.” 

The WUCCB agreed to grant Connexa a license for the tower, subject to resource consent, and members highlighted the need for Connexa to adhere to its code of practice.

The tower will extend mobile coverage to areas not covered by other towers, including Lake Wānaka near Beacon Point, across to some of the western shoreline of the lake, and to Roys Peak, according to Connexa.

It will replace a temporary tower which was installed on the reserve in 2017 because the network had reached capacity months earlier.

“If we didn’t grant this license… the flow-on effect would then be cell towers in road reserves in multiple locations through residential areas to get the same coverage or capacity,” Matt said.

The cell tower could be up to 12.9 metres and QLDC planned to require additional planting to minimise the visual impact and, if appropriate, require the mast to be painted to blend in as much as possible, Matt said.

PHOTO: Wānaka App