OTISFIELD — Voters handily defeated a $1.73 million road plan and narrowly defeated a plan to send cell tower appeals directly to Superior Court, but passed a revised Wireless Telecommunications Facility Ordinance during the annual town meeting Saturday.

About 140 voters packed into the Community Hall on State Route 121 for the nearly three and a half hour meeting to vote on the 30-article warrant.

In a 34-72 hand count, voters turned down a request by the Road Study Committee to take out a five-year, $1.73 million bond that would have raised taxes at least 10 percent but reconstructed parts of Bell Hill, Gore, Peaco Hill, Powhatan and Rayville roads over the next two years.

Neither selectmen nor Road Commissioner Richard Bean Sr. recommended passage of the article, primarily because of the financial impact on taxpayers.

“Right now is not the right time,” said Selectman Rick Micklon during the nearly 45-minute discussion on the merits of the article.

“The townspeople just cannot afford it,” Selectman Len Adler said.

Road Study Committee member Herb Olsen said now is the right time because the roads will not get better without work and that work will cost more money as time goes on. Lumping the project into one, instead of doing the roads “piecemeal,” would cost less, Olsen said.

Voters also rejected, by a vote 25-75, a request to repair Powhatan Road for $408,000 raised by taxes plus another $180,000 from the road commissioner’s budget.

Since neither proposal was approved, Bean will use $180,000 in his road budget to rehabilitate Powhatan Road from Forrest Edwards Road to Route 121.

In other action, voters approved a revised Wireless Telecommunication Facility Ordinance on a 75-10 vote. Proponents and the Ordinance Committee said the revised ordinance better defines terminology such as “abutter,” but others said it would reduce the ability of landowners to get proper notification of a potential cell tower siting and proper standing in court should they oppose it.

The revisions are the direct result of more than a yearlong battle over the application by U.S. Cellular in 2012 to install a 180-foot communications tower on Scribner Hill, selectmen said.

“How does that benefit all residents?” asked Kristen Roy, a longtime opponent of the siting process for the U.S. Cellular plan. The process ended up in court and U.S. Cellular pulled out of the permitting process.

Roy contended that by steering potential cell tower companies to the town’s Tax Increment Financing Zone, the town could benefit financially.

“We’re signing away our rights to a lot of money that would help a lot of people in this town,” she said. “It’s not in the best interest of our town.”

But Board of Selectmen Chairman Hal Ferguson said the 16-month study concluded that the revisions were in the best interest of the town.

“The (ordinance) committee is trying to protect landowners,” Micklon said.

Many residents balked at a plan to change the appeals process for a cell tower siting, saying their rights were being usurped.

Selectmen said it would not only expedite the appeal process but reduce legal costs for the town by sending an appeal directly to Superior Court. The process would only apply to the Wireless Telecommunications Facilities Ordinance.

The request to send an appeal over a cell tower directly to Superior Court rather than the town’s appeal process was narrowly turned down in a 41-48 vote.

“You’re taking away people’s rights to appeal,” resident Joe Vaillancourt said.

Others agreed, saying everyone should have the right to one appeal under the local appeals board. Selectmen said the Appeals Board is not prepared to rule on testimony that entails information beyond their understanding and the cost to do so during the U.S. Cellular appeals was close to $50,000 because it ended up in Superior Court.

Voters approved the municipal budget that is $408,504 more than this fiscal year’s of about $1.5 million. The 2015-16 budget includes increases for public safety, cemeteries, employee benefits and road equipment reserves.

Voters approved $34,000 for the town’s share of design work to repair the Pleasant Lake Dam in Casco. The dam beside Route 121 in Casco is leaking as much as 1,000 gallons of water per minute in a minimum of three places. It controls the level of water in the 4-mile-long lake, which lies in both towns.

Ferguson, Bean and SAD 17 Director Tom Moore were re-elected to their posts for the coming fiscal year. Ferguson was also re-elected chairman of the Board of Selectmen.

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