FARMINGTON – Planning Board members unanimously approved the installation of a 180-foot wireless telecommunication tower at 170 Hovey Road on Monday. It is part of a network of towers to improve communication signals for cell phone users.
Maureen Hopkins, a representative of ATC Reality in Portland, who made the presentation representing Global Tower LLC of Boca Raton, Fla., said the company plans to construct the tower on property leased from David Hobert of Hovey Road.
Global Tower is a tower developer and not a wireless carrier, she said.
The monopole tower would have room for six wireless carriers to lease.
The company also is proposing a tower on the corner of Routes 2 and 27 in New Sharon, she said.
There are already towers on Voter Hill and Titcomb Hill in Farmington.
The leased area of Hobert’s property is 100 feet by 100 feet, and the tower would be built within a 75-foot by 75-foot compound on that site.
It would be accessed through Hobert’s property on 12-foot-wide road located within a 25-foot access and utility easement, Hopkins said.
The site would have an 8-foot fence around it topped with barbed wire and a 12-foot gate.
The company does allow two whip-style municipal antenna’s to be installed on the tower free of charge. The company would execute a lease with the town for $1 a year to cover liability issues and it would install the antenna free of charge, if the antenna was available during construction of the tower.
The company’s plan would meet the requirements of the town’s ordinance including removal of the tower if it is no longer used for 12 consecutive months.
The tower, which would be mat gray, galvanized steel, would be about 4-feet across, Hopkins said, and because it is shorter than 200 feet, it will have no lights on it. If it was taller than 200 feet, the Federal Aviation Administration would require lights, she said.
The company has towers along Route 3 in China, Belmont, Searsmont as well as Route 26 in Bethel, Gilead, South Paris and another town in that area, Hopkins said.
Comments are no longer available on this story