LEWISTON – The city will ask the Maine Public Utilities Commission to make accommodations for residents and neighbors of a proposed power line upgrade.

Councilors Tuesday agreed to send a letter to commissioners recommending the lines be moved around some properties. The letter will be sent to commissioners Wednesday.

“This is a huge, expensive deal for CMP,” Councilor Tom Peters said. “I don’t think these few small changes will be a huge deal for them.”

The commission will determine if CMP can move forward with its proposal. The commission is studying the proposal and is expected to take months to come to a decision.

Called the Maine Power Reliability Program, CMP’s proposal calls for upgrading a nearly 40-year-old swath of power lines. The lines start south in Eliot and pass through central Maine in Litchfield, Monmouth, Leeds, Greene, Lewiston and a corner of Auburn at the Durham line. They stop in Orrington, where they connect to lines from Canada.

In some places, lines would be rebuilt or replaced. In other places, lines would be added, including 115-kilovolt and 345-kilovolt lines. The 345-kilovolt poles, not common in Maine, are wider than traditional power-line towers, and are, depending on location, about 20 to 25 feet taller than the lower-voltage poles.

The project would affect about 4,000 property abutters statewide. If approved, it could take three to five years to complete.

Opponents say the 345-kilovolt lines buzz and emit an electromagnetic field they fear could cause cancer. Abutters say the new lines will lower their property values.

Lewiston hosted a four-and-a-half hour public workshop on Jan. 15 to grill utility representatives over the planned upgrade.

“Based on what we heard at that meeting, I think it’s a good idea to send this,” Councilor Nelson Peters said. “It puts us on the record of telling them to do what’s right by people.”