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Mobile phone tower in Mooloolah
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Mobile phone tower troubles Mooloolah residents
Optus plans to build a 33m mobile phone tower on private property at 390 Tunnel Ridge Road, Mooloolah, as first reported in GC&M News (June 5), was a hotly discussed topic at the recent Mooloolah residents group meeting.
The development application is for a material change of use so part of the land currently zoned rural can be used for the telecommunications facility and for it to collocate Vodaphone facilities.
According to the documents submitted to Sunshine Coast Council with the application, the new tower is necessary to relieve congestion on the existing network of voice and data transmitters.
Public submissions were called for with an August 1 deadline.
Many locals at the recent residents meeting knew nothing about the application until just before the community meeting on the evening of August 1.
The council development application web portal shows that only six properly made submissions were received before the deadline.
All six were vehemently against the tower being approved, with the majority citing concerns with unknown health implications as a result of electromagnetic radiation from the towers.
Council’s planning scheme states that houses should be more than 400m from the tower but according to the application documentation the closest residence is only 205m to the east on Valley View Rise with ten houses falling within a 400m radius.
Other concerns included that the 33m tower is not consistent with the rural outlooks and vistas of the Tunnel Ridge Road area.
Optus states that it looked at five other possible sites (Marie Higgs Environmental Reserve, 17 Benzara Lane, 477 Tunnel Ridge Road, 545 Connection Road and Brandenburg Road) to locate a tower but all were unsuitable.
The application will now be evaluated by council’s development assessment unit against the provisions of the planning scheme.
