Plans to build a four-tower broadcasting station northeast of Black Diamond need to be scrapped to protect pilots flying at the Cu Nim Gliding Club.
Touch Canada Broadcasting has unveiled plans to construct four 104 metre tall broadcast towers off Highway 7, within two-and-a-half kilometers from the foothills gliding club which has operated in the area for more than 60 years.
It’s the second time the company has proposed to build the towers in the High Country area. In 2010, there was a proposal to erect the towers south of Black Diamond on Highway 22. The plan was shot down by the MD of Foothills due to its impact on the Cowboy Trail, a tourist road network renowned for its mountain views.
It took Touch Canada Broadcasting about 18 months to settle on the new location, but this site has problems as well.
The towers would impede the operation of the gliding club and pose a real danger to the users of the facility. The proposed towers would block two of the existing flight profiles used by the gliders and their tow planes.
In addition, there are a number of ranchers and country residential homeowners who are not pleased four radio towers could be added to the western skyline.
Although Touch Canada Broadcasting is disappointed it may have to find another site, it is clear they did not do their homework before pitching the site near Cu Nim Gliding Club.
Representatives of the broadcaster should have met with the Black Diamond gliding club well before open houses or public meetings were held. Had they done so they would have realized the towers would not be compatible with the club’s operations.
The Cu Nim Gliding Club has been operating in this community for six decades and deserves to be treated with respect not as an afterthought by an industrial developer.
