The tower on Titcomb Hill Road will be up by the end of the year.
FARMINGTON – A 150-foot self-supporting lattice-style cellular phone tower will go up just off Titcomb Hill Road, the Planning Board ruled Monday night. The vote was 5-1 with Tim Wallace opposed.
U.S. Cellular has leased a 100-by-100-foot parcel between Flint Woods and the reservoir from the Farmington Village Corp., also known as the Farmington Water District.
In addition to the three-legged self-supporting tower, the company proposed to put a 24-foot by 12-foot prefabricated building, a generator and a propane tank on the parcel. All that would be fenced inside an 8-foot tall chain-link fence, said Bill Goldthwaite, a consultant for the U.S. Cellular who handles land acquisitions.
Because the tower is less than 200 feet tall, it will have no lights on it and if U.S. Cellular wanted to expand the tower, or add more buildings at the site, they would have to get board approval.
The only other cell phone tower in Farmington is on Voter Hill near Titcomb Mountain. Goldthwaite said that tower is not able to handle all the heavy cell phone traffic in the area.
The new tower, which will be up by the end of the year, will host U.S. Cellular, and up to four other carriers, and provide better reception, reduce “dead spots” and also help offset the overload of the Voter Hill tower, Goldthwaite said.
Initially, U.S. Cellular wanted to install a tower atop a downtown Farmington building, or in a steeple, however, Farmington’s wireless ordinance allows for this type of tower to go up in an area zoned as “farm-forest,” as the leased parcel is.
Balloon tests conducted by U.S. Cellular determined that the Titcomb Hill Road site would have the least visible impact.
It would cost $150,000 to build the tower including installing the foundation, labor and the tower itself, plus the $250,000 to $500,000 it would cost for radio equipment, Goldthwaite estimated.
More than 20 people attended the hearing Monday.
“We are not trying to make an attractive nuisance here,” Richard Trafton, an Auburn lawyer representing U.S. Cellular stressed.
U.S. Cellular has extended an invitation for the town of Farmington, the Farmington Village Corp. and other nonprofits to use a slot on the tower to improve communications. Town Manager Richard Davis said the town does not have a need to use the space, but may look into it in the future.
What upset residents the most was that the corporation agreed to a 30-year deal, renewed every five years, without first consulting residents.
John Ranville, an abutter of the project, said that was unfair, but he was in favor of the tower. He said as a staff member of the University of Maine at Farmington’s computer center, he was excited about the tower because it would help the school’s wireless communication.
Another abutter, Jim Parker, said he knew the area would be under more pressure for development due in the future, but said U.S. Cellular’s proposal was “about as benign” and “harmless” a proposal as possible.
Joseph Holman, an assessor for the village corporation, said “We are not taking a place which is a beautiful woodsy place and changing its character. It’s sort of hidden because it’s right in the middle of the woods.”
Herbert York, Planning Board chairman, as well as board member Craig Jordan abstained from voting on the issue, citing conflicts of interest. York owns land that has a tower on it and Jordan is an abutter of the proposed U.S. Cellular tower.
sdepoy@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
