The Planning Board in Cape Elizabeth, ME is analyzing the city’s co-location requirements before determining whether they will review an application for a third telecommunications tower on a property on Strout Road. Board members want to ensure that the third tower is truly necessary, given the town’s co-location ordinance, which allows the town to limit the total number of towers by denying applications if existing towers could meet the town’s coverage needs.
According to The Forecaster, the property already contains one, 180-foot tower owned by Strout Trusts and Power Specialists and one tower owned by Crown Castle, slated to be removed in 2019. Another tower owned by the Strouts is currently under construction, which replaces another 180-foot tower and four shorter towers.
Property owner Justin Strout argues that the co-location ordinance only requires that he offer co-location on the tower, which he has agreed to do. The third tower would both boost local coverage and provide Strout a competitive financial edge. “We have multiple customers that would love to be at 180 feet … we’d like to do this so we can put everybody that wants to be, at the top,” Strout explained to The Forecaster, referring to the “sweet spot” where carriers are likely to pay higher prices for their equipment to be installed.
Some board members suggest that the existing towers should be at full capacity in order to move forward with building additional towers and that Strout has not adequately demonstrated a need for the third tower. Speaking to The Forecaster, board member Johnathan Sahrbeck said, “I’m not seeing that the tower that you have been approved for, the second tower, is filled to the brim with cell phone carriers that it’s going to require you to build another 180-foot tower.” Board members have requested detailed coverage maps from Strout and are seeking the advice of Town Attorney John Wall about the scope of the town’s co-location ordinance.
January 19, 2018
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