Otisfield cell tower report available

OTISFIELD — Selectmen, at their September 19 meeting, reported that a cover letter and timeline of events regarding the erection of a 180-foot-high communications tower on Scribner Hill has been published on the town's website. 

According to Chairman Hal Ferguson, the five-and-a-half-page document can be reviewed at www.otisfieldme.gov. 

"We would like to have made it more brief, but we couldn't tell the story any briefer and wanted to tell the whole story," Ferguson explained. 

The cover letter, written by selectmen on September 12 and addressed to Otisfield residents, indicates the board of selectmen, planning board and board of appeals have been approached by year-round and summer residents with questions regarding the cell tower issue. 

According to selectmen, questions have come from both supporters and opponents of the issue. Questions include, "When did this cell tower first surface?" and "Did the planning board honestly have enough information to grant the approval?"

Some residents have also asked whether the town's communications ordinance was followed and why residents are suing their own town rather than just suing U.S. Cellular. 

Questions have also come from residents who are undecided on the issue, selectmen wrote. Because of the complexity of the issue, the board decided to provide residents with information to help them better understand the process and where it stands now. 

The timeline of events regarding the cell tower includes the "who, what, when, where and why," involved in the application process as it unfolded, reported selectmen. 

At a previous meeting, selectmen said they felt it was necessary for residents to understand the facts regarding the cell tower application process. They said they want to make it clear the timeline is not a "Findings of Fact," but instead, is a simple outline of events related to the cell tower.