WEST PARIS — Residents will be given a chance to chime in on a proposal to build a new cell phone tower on Stearns Hill after the Planning Board voted to hold a public hearing on the proposal at its meeting Tuesday.
A date for the public hearing is still to be determined, according to Planning Board Chairman Ken Poland.
West Paris does not have a specific ordinance regulating the construction of cell phone towers.
Global Tower Partners, based in Boca Raton, Fla., claims to be the largest privately-owned cell tower operator in the country. The company is planning to build a 190-foot tower on land owned by Don and Stella Baldridge.
According to plans submitted to the town, the company plans to build a 1,100 foot driveway for all-season access to the tower, near Orchard Court, off Stearns Hill Road, east of Route 26.
The access road will gain more than 200 feet of elevation to reach the tower.
In an interview Thursday, Blaine Hopkins, President of Global Tower’s local representative, Falmouth-based ACT Realty, said the new tower was needed to accommodate a wireless network capacity upgrade.
“Nobody would build a $400,000 tower if it wasn’t necessary,” Hopkins said.
The proposed tower is about 1,000 feet from an existing tower that is at capacity, Hopkins said. The new tower is intended to accommodate antennas for the AT&T network.
According to the minutes of the meeting, Poland questioned if the existing tower could be reinforced to support equipment for additional carriers.
Hopkins said it was not possible for the existing tower to be loaded with more antennas. Co-locating on towers was always preferable to investing in new ones, he said.
“It simply won’t take the additional loading for the new antennas,” Hopkins said.
If the project is approved by the Planning Board, the new tower will be installed within six weeks, he estimated.
Global Tower Partners owns towers in Waterford, Norway, Paris, Woodstock, Bethel, Gilead and Oxford, in addition to the existing tower in West Paris.
The company operates 193 cell phone towers statewide, according to its website.
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