Flagstaff residents frustrated by new mobile tower

Tuesday, 7 July 2026

Flagstaff resident Benji Zheng says the new tower is ‘disturbing’.

What happens if you get a letter in the mail telling you a whopping great mobile phone tower is going to be erected across the street?

As it turns out, there’s not much you can do.

Flagstaff residents on Petersburg Dr were none too pleased to see a mobile tower plonked on their street corner, and some are concerned that not only their view, but their property values could be affected.

“To be honest, I find it disturbing,” resident Benji Zheng said. “Before we really enjoyed our view and now this tower is dominating it. I tried to reach out to the council, but they said they weren’t the right people to talk to.

Flagstaff resident Karen Rogers says she wants to know why they are building so many.

“I think it will absolutely affect our property value. Before, it was beautiful especially during Balloons Over Waikato.”

Zheng lives directly across from the tower and said he received a letter from the mobile tower infrastructure company, Connexa, but did not realise how imposing the tower would be from their diagram so did not contact them at the time.

Connexa, a telecommunications infrastructure company has built a new tower on the corner of Petersburg Dr.

Down the road, Karen Rogers was left wondering why yet another tower had been built in the area.

“Personally, I’d like to know why these towers are going everywhere. I just don’t understand why we need so many of them or what they’re doing. We had good coverage before.

Two companies have ten mobile sites between them in Flagstaff. Another one on Borman Rd Flagstaff.

“Our neighbour investigated and was told that there was nothing we could do and they have the right to put them wherever they want. We still feel like they could have put it in a position that was more in the bushes or more around the corner.

“It’s one of those things where this is happening and they’re just notifying you, but you do wonder what it’s doing to our brains.”

Lodge agent Yvenna Yue says it’s difficult to determine how much of an impact the towers have on property values, but believed it would effect sales.

She said her and her husband were disappointed the companies would not provide more information on why the mobile tower was needed.

Lodge real estate agent Yvenna Yue said the effect of mobile towers on property values was difficult to determine, especially as people’s feelings on them were so subjective.

New Zealand Telecommunications Forum CEO Paul Brislen says companies have a right to build towers where they want, but try to be courteous of residents.

“It absolutely matters to some people. For instance, we were selling a house that backed on to Gordonton Rd that had some power lines and numerous buyers came through the home and loved it, but would not buy it because of potential health affects.

“It’s the same with mobile towers. Once people go looking at ChatGPT and getting vague answers about the research, they start worrying about what the effects are.

“I don’t think you can determine a financial value impact, but you could see a desirability decrease with the number of buyers interested in a property near power lines or mobile towers.

“Say that there were three buyers who liked it and could buy it, maybe two of them are out because you’re near a pole. We all know the difference between a competition offer and a none-competition offer could be $100k.”

New Zealand Telecommunications Forum CEO Paul Brislen explained that all telecommunications companies adhere to the National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication Facilities legislation that determines where and what they can build.

Under this legislation, mobile towers are treated the same as other essential utility services and they do not need to seek public approval.

“As long as we operate within that envelope, we can build them where we need to … You can’t say ‘I don’t want it here because I don’t like it’.”

While they do not require council consent, companies like Connexa and Fortysouth will submit a certificate of compliance to council and work with them to determine the location.

Under the Forum guidelines, they must inform neighbouring properties when in a residential area when a tower is being built.

“People quite often protest these things and we certainly don’t stop them from doing that … but I find that once the towers have gone up most people don’t even notice them. We put some of them on top of street lights where we can,” Brislen said.

Connexa, which supports Spark and 2degrees, currently has six sites in the Flagstaff area and Fortysouth has four.

In a written statement, a Connexa spokesperson said that increased demand for mobile data meant they were expanding their network.

“The location of each site is determined through a detailed technical assessment to ensure it integrates effectively with the existing mobile network. As part of this process, Connexa also considers potential effects on the surrounding community, including visual amenity and local site context.

“Wherever practicable, locations in commercial or less residential areas are preferred; however, this is not always feasible due to a range of factors, including technical, safety, and regulatory requirements.”