OTISFIELD — The Planning Board has unanimously approved an application by U.S. Cellular to build the town’s first cell tower, a 180-foot communications tower on Scribner Hill.
The application by KJK Wireless representing the permitting interests of U.S. Cellular to site a tower on a piece of leased land on Scribner Hill by Ivory Hill Road was approved Tuesday evening with conditions.
The approval came with the conditions that the company has to submit a design for a fence at the bottom of the access road to prevent people from going up the hill to the tower base and that a bond be submitted that would allow the town to dismantle the structure if U.S. Cellular abandoned it.
The Planning Board has also required that the testing of the generators be done only Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and that the town’s public safety departments be allowed to utilize the tower.
In this case, the Otisfield Fire Department will be provided a spot for a repeater on the cell tower that Selectman Rick Micklon said will greatly improve their ability to communicate, particularly in the Spurrs Corner section of town.
The tower construction is expected to start sometime in June and take five weeks to complete, said Micklon.
The town has an ordinance that provides a process and set of standards for the construction of wireless telecommunications facilities that in part is designed 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 residents, but it did not have a communications tower application until now.
Officials said the tower would not be visible by those who live nearby, but rather by people who live further away.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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