What? You can't see the cellphone towers for the trees?

Bell Canada erecting cell phone towers disguised as trees in cottage country

By Richard J. Brennan, National Affairs Writer
Monday, March 19, 2012

Bell plans to construct seven of the disguised towers, which look like large trees. Construction will begin in May. (Bell Canada photo)


They may look like white pines on steroids, but they’re actually Bell Canada towers.

The telecommunications company plans to disguise the towers it erects in cottage country to look like trees so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb.

Bell plans to construct seven of the disguised towers and construction will begin in May. Because they will be under 30 metres, they don’t require municipal approval.

“It’s really bizarre looking at them in the picture … it’s like a white pine on steroids,” Alice Murphy, the mayor of the Township of Muskoka Lakes, told the Toronto Star.

The idea has been tried elsewhere in the U.S. in the form of palm trees and street lamps, but it’s the first time in Canada the conifer disguise has been used.

The so-called tree trunks are made of steel and the branches are made of fibre glass. Bell has plans for the towers in Brackenrig, Foot’s Bay, Port Carling East, Port Sandfield, Walker’s Point East, Breezy Point Road and Little Lake Joseph.

A Bell spokesperson said the tree design was introduced as a pilot project in Algonquin.

“While we are still in the planning stages, we expect to install approximately 20 tree sites throughout many communities in the greater Muskoka area,” Jason Laszlo said.

“The equipment comes to the location prefabricated and is assembled on site. When complete, the tree will stand between 25 and 29 meters and will be positioned to blend with existing trees,” he said.

Some concerns have been raised about radiofrequency, but Murphy expects that the treelike towers will be located on private property in woodlots that are away from built-up areas.

Health Canada says exposure from cellphone towers is typically below its exposure standards. Even so, erecting large towers in Ontario has sometimes been controversial with residents complaining that radiofrequency is detrimental to public health.

Murphy said the truth is local residents are glad about improved cellphone coverage in an area where communications can be hit and miss.

“You used to see people out in their canoes or their boats in the middle of the lake holding their cellphone in a certain way trying to get reception,” she said.

But on the whole, the mayor said, reception in cottage country is getting better all the time.

“And it needs to be because people do their work there. There are people conducting business in Muskoka, particularly during the summer, and they (cottagers) are trying to make it as seamless as possible from their Toronto offices. And that’s important to us,” she said.

Murphy said good telecommunications means cottagers drive up to their summer homes during the week knowing they can still conduct their business, which she says cuts down on the summertime weekend rush.
“It’s great for the economy, it’s better for our roads and it’s just easier on everyone’s disposition,” she said.