OTISFIELD — The Planning Board will hold a public hearing Jan. 17 on a proposed 180-foot communications tower on Scribner Hill.
“This is a first,” Chairman Stan Brett said of the proposal. KJK Wireless, representing the permitting interests of U.S. Cellular, is asking to site a tower on land by Ivey Hill Road.
Brett said the company made a presentation to the Planning Board at their last meeting and it appears that it follows the town’s wireless telecommunications facility siting ordinance. The ordinance provides a process and set of standards for the construction of wireless telecommunications facilities. It is designed, in part, to protect the scenic and visual character of the community and ensure that the town can fairly and responsibly protect the public health, safety and welfare of townspeople.
Approval by the Planning Board is required for the construction of a wireless telecommunications facility. A site plan and scenic assessment are among the documents that must be submitted by the applicant.
The board may or may not vote on the plan that evening, Brett said. They could ask the petitioners to make changes to the plan, if any are necessary, and return.
Brett said the issue of cellphone reception has been ongoing for residents for years and prompted discussion about how to improve it. There are currently no wireless communications towers in town.
The tower would not be visible to those near it, but rather by people who live farther away, he said.
It would be sited off Scribner Hill Road almost straight up Ivey Hill Road.
“It’s visible from away,” he said.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Town Office on Route 121.
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