MILLINOCKET (AP) – The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission has voted to allow Redington Mountain Windpower LLC to retain 100-foot-high poles on two mountain ridges in Franklin County.

Several companies have been testing the wind-energy potential there for the past decade.

Company spokesman Harley Lee said a building permit application is in the offing.

“Our permit application is about 5 inches thick now. We’ve got about an inch to go,” Lee said Wednesday.

He said a proposal would include turbines more than 200 feet tall atop both Redington Mountain and Black Nubble Mountain east of Rangeley.

The company hopes to produce between 60 and 90 megawatts of power at the site, using multiple turbines.

The turbines would be located within view of the Appalachian Trail and the development also would be visible from several mountains popular among hikers.

Additionally, the Sugarloaf Mountain ski area is located about 4 miles away.

Commissioner Steve Kahl of Old Town explained his abstention from voting by saying that he had concerns about the proposed site “high above the trees” in an undeveloped area.

Wednesday’s vote was 4-1, with one member absent and the abstention. The vote would allow the company to keep scientific equipment aloft on poles for three years.

“We’re trying to predict exactly how much energy wind turbines will produce on these mountains,” Lee said. “The longer you measure, the less variability you have.”

A wind-farm application is likely to face opposition.

“We felt that the time had come to put this to a halt after 10 years,” said Dain Trafton of Phillips, who asked the commission not to allow the research poles, or at least require that Redington Mountain Windpower agree to pay for the poles’ removal if the development does not proceed.

Lee volunteered to secure funds for lifting the poles off the mountain ridges.