TOWER OF DISCONTENT: An artist's impression of the Telstra tower on park land at Birkdale Road, Wellington Point.Residents say the huge tower will destroy the natural look of the area and lower local property values.
REDLAND City Council is still taking submissions about a Telstra proposal to build a 30m-high mobile phone tower at Wellington Point Park, off Birkdale Road.
The state government deadline for submissions to the council was on Wednesday.
But Redland City Council mayor Karen Williams said late submissions would still be included in council deliberations.
However, she said only submissions that met the deadline would have appeal rights if the matter ended up in the Planning and Environment court.
She said the development application for the 30m tower was "impact assessable", which meant the proposal had to be advertised and the public consulted.
Cr Wendy Boglary (Div1) will organise a public meeting in the first week of June. The council has to decide whether to allow the telecom's request for a material change of use of 66sqm at the park for the 30m tower.
Under council's Telecommunications Facility Code, telecom towers are not allowed within 300m of a school or 200m of a residential area.
They must not be taller than 25m unless surrounding vegetation or structures are higher, in which case they can be 5m above the tree canopy or structure, to a maximum of 35metres.
According to the Telstra application, the proposed 30m tower was permissible as there were already 25m-high light poles on the adjacent sporting grounds.
The application to the council claims the tower would be more than 200m from a residential area and more than 300m from Redlands College, on Anson Road.
Telstra said the tower was necessary to improve coverage to Wellington Point and Raby Bay and would provide "much needed capacity relief" for existing towers and ensure there were no "dead spots" or "drop outs" in the area.
Two other sites for the tower were ruled out.
The rooftop of Hogan's pub at Wellington Point would need "significant structural works" to support the tower and the roundabout at the Birkdale and Main roads intersection was considered "unsuitable".
Wellington Point resident John Daffy made an official submission listing 23 points of objection and asking the council to refuse the material change of use application at the park.
"My objection relates to the entirely inappropriate siting of this telecommunications tower," Mr Daffy's submission stated.
"There is inconsistency with the original intent of area which is an open space and sporting grounds.
"I believe there will be extreme loss of visual amenity for nearby residents and visitors resulting in depreciated value of homes within the immediate vicinity.
"Potentially, granting this application will expose the council and, in turn, the city's ratepayers to financial claims for having knowingly permitted the loss of visual amenity and resultant depreciated property values," the submission said.
Mr Daffy also claimed the proposed tower was within 200m of a school (Redlands College) and there were still "unknown long-term health risks" associated with mobile phone towers.
He also said the proposed tower failed height restrictions and when erected would be taller than the claimed 30m.
For it to comply with the surrounding tree canopy, it would also have to be 23m high or less, he said.
Wellington Point resident Chris Panaou said he was concerned the tower would hurt nearby property prices.
It is still unknown when the matter will be brought before a full council meeting.