Construction on a cell phone tower in Bremen, planned for this spring, may face delays.
The Planning Board approved the tower at their Dec. 8 meeting, said Planning Board member Jack Mohr. The original plan was to build the tower on private land in late spring on Waldoboro Road – in late March or early April.
However, the company building the tower, Global Tower Partners, said they haven’t found a cell phone provider to use the tower.
“We want to build it, and we haven’t scrapped the project, but we’re not going to spend the money until we have a tenant,” said Terry Armant, the Senior Vice President of Development at Global Tower.
Originally, Verizon Wireless was slated to use the tower, but they backed out, Armant said. Global Tower has not secured a tenant, but is confidant Verizon will change their mind or another company will step forward, Armant said. Their permit is valid for one year, Mohr said.
Until a tenant is found, construction on the tower has been delayed indefinitely, Armant said.
The Town of Bremen is excited about the possibility of the tower being built, and several officials and residents said they hope construction starts soon.
“We’re all very excited,” said Wendy Pieh, Chairman of the Bremen Selectmen. “When your fire and rescue can’t get cell reception, it’s a big problem.”
No one on the Planning Board or Board of Selectmen can remember any members of the public being against the tower.
“Only one person showed up to the public meeting, and they were for it,” said Bremen Code Enforcement Officer Roger Grover.
The tower will be more than 200 feet tall, Grover said. It will be built on private land, owned by Clyde Genthner, behind the Bremen Union Church. Genthner will lease the land to Global Tower Partners, the firm behind the tower.
“I don’t mind a big tower in my backyard at all,” Genthner said. “It’ll be a pretty good income to retire on.”
Genthner, who is 78 years old and still working, said he can’t wait for construction to begin. He had no plans to have a tower on his property until Global Tower approached him a few years ago.
“They just came and knocked on my door and asked if I was interested, and I said yes,” Genthner said.
Although there was some concern about the visual impact of the tower among members of the Planning Board, it came down to a matter of safety. Now, they hope the project gets started as soon as possible.
“When it comes to saving someone’s life versus making a pretty picture, there’s no question,” Mohr said. “So the sooner we can improve communication in town the better.”
Mohr has to walk about 130 feet out onto his pier to get cell phone reception at his house, he said.
Along with emergency agencies, he worries that summer residents feel the impact of limited reception because they don’t necessarily have landlines.
For emergency agencies, communication is vital and the new tower would go a long way toward improving it, Mohr and Grover both said.
Global Tower has agreed to place repeaters for the Fire Department on the tower at no cost, Grover said. The Fire Department has to supply the repeaters, and Global Tower will mount them and pay for operating costs, Grover said.
“This has been on-again-off-again for a while, but it would be a terrific benefit to the town,” Grover said. “There are a lot of dead spots right now. Helping the Fire Department is a fortunate byproduct, and it would help for mutual aid with other towns, too.”
