ROCKLAND, Maine — Concerns from neighbors about a proposed 100-foot cellphone tower on property of the Rockland Golf Course has led the planning board to schedule a formal public hearing.
The planning board reviewed the proposal at its Sept. 4 meeting, when the code office reported that some neighbors expressed concern over the height of the tower.
Susan Barbour of Old County Road said Monday that neighbors wanted questions answered and that is why a public hearing was requested.
A concern is the tower’s effect on the views of homeowners near the site, she said.
“We don’t want our properties devalued,” she said.
Barbour said that another neighbor, Kevin Fowlie, had circulated a petition signed by neighbors who wanted more information.
U.S. Cellular has applied for the city approval. Following the Sept. 4 meeting, the company agreed it would place a balloon tethered to a 100-foot cable to allow the public to see what a 100-foot tower would look like.
That will be done before the public hearing that is scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 18.
The tower would be located next to a quarry by the s-curve on Old County Road across from where the golf club clubhouse is located. In addition to the tower, U.S. Cellular plans to erect a 12- by 20-foot building for equipment. The building and tower will be enclosed by a 35-square-foot fence.
The cellphone company is leasing 6,400 square feet of land from the golf club.
The residential neighborhood is located in an A zone, Barbour said, while the golf course is in a less restrictive B zone.
Fowlie said he does not represent the neighborhood but wanted to make it known that residents wanted a hearing. He said that particular area of Rockland does not have commercial development and noted how beautiful the drive is coming into the entrance to Rockland either from Old County Road or Route 17.
Fowlie said a U.S. Cellular representative told him that it needed the flagpole-type tower in order to eliminate a dead zone in Glen Cove.
The cell tower would have negative effects on more than the immediate neighbors, so I hope that that neighborhood keeps that petition going in all of Rockland, and beyond.
How is this going to have a negative effect on the immediate neighbors? Matter of fact, the area where this is going to go only have a few immediate neighbors as it is on the side of the course where there are only a few houses! The only negative effect is the potential view that this may have, but then again we are so behind the times here in the midcoast and we NEED to have some cell towers to get the appropriate coverages!
And where I work in Thomaston, I get NO coverage from US Cellular, my provider. I can’t even pick up a ROAM from Verizon, unless I’m standing in the exact correct spot near the lunchroom, and the phase of the moon and the stars are aligned and in perfect harmony.
Put the tower up!! Rockland is full of people like this. No train horn, no cell towers, no development.
Then Rockland must be brimming with people who are far-sighted, genuinely care about, not only Rockland, but beyond its borders, and who do their research, know the negative physiological effects these things can have, and know that there are a host of creative, intelligent methods for development that neither harm people, nor create ugliness where there is beauty, and are 100% for development that serves the needs of the community at large. Logic and common sense rate highly. (And no one objects to the safety given by a train horn).
And no one objects to the safety given by a train horn
Excuse me? There are people in Rockland that succeeded in banning the sound of the train horn at crossings. Because they bought a house near the tracks and couldn’t stand the fact the trains would sound a horn. A whole once or twice a day. And not at night or early morning either.
And just what kind of creative, intelligent methods are there to get good cell phone reception? Oh, I know. You can use your tin foil hat to pull in a signal. After all, those tin foil hats will never interfere with someone’s view.
People like you are the ones that buy next to a pig farm then complain about the smell. /eye roll
Nope. Raised pigs, in fact. Had goat bucks a bit too upwind of the farm house, but you learn to open and close windows depending on wind direction. Have land line telephone. Works fine. And train horn signals are required by law and cannot be banned. Tried a tin-foil hat once at work, and everybody wanted to borrow it.
Post script: I don’t know what happened to your post that I was alerted to regarding the sounding of horns – (there is goes now, good thing, too) – where you cite Federal Railroad Administration http://www.fra.dot.gov/Pages/1773.shtml and the rules governing horns.
The “facts” that you direct me to attend to, indicate that there are a host of structural and other safety conditions which must be met in order to bypass the sounding of a train horn at crossings even during designated quiet times. Reading the conditions, and with reference to the parts of Rockland where there were complaints about train horns, these conditions have not been met, thereby demanding the use of train horns at these crossings. Thank you for the excellent source of facts.
PPS Better to ask why planning would permit entrance and egress to businesses when they are immediately adjacent to train tracks and a traffic signal light.
What kind of phone do you Rocklanders have that you don’t get good reception? I have the cheapest Tracfone they make and I get great reception, all the time!
I live and work in the Rockland/Thomaston area and have a cheap Tracfone. I get great reception!
if it would let me have cell service..I say come put it in my back yard
They complain when they lose a call,they complain if a cell tower needs to go up.What’s up?What do you want?!Progress or no progress.Will the stone ages,suit your needs.
I completely agree. Maine struggles to bring business in while people complain about not having jobs and then AGAIN block something that could add to the value of their property, being able to make and receive cell phone calls.
we need one in cambridge no service here or harmony all the way to athens
Rockland Golf Course is really a Mickey Mouse course anyway. 3 par 3’s in a row is a little uh, windmill and clown like. It’s good to read they finally are doing something good to that piece of real estate.
But for all the neighbors that complain the don’t want their properties to lose value…buy the golf course then. Just because you have a neighbor doesn’t give you the right to tell them what to do with their land. Geeeez liberals, Geeeeez.
Bushfan, I would like your post, because I essentially agree with it. But I won’t, because you lost it when you had to end with “Geeez liberals, Geeeeez.”
I am a liberal. It’s not a liberal, conservative or tea party issue. It’s a freakin’ NIMBY issue, which knows NO political affiliation.
When you get the liberal bashing out of your posts,you might find more will agree with what you might have to say.
I thought they were the same,Thank you for educating me! I am being serious no pun intended…
I was just about to go to bed but after reading your post, there is no reason. There is no way I am going to be able to sleep now knowing you didn’t “like” my post. Where is my crying towel?
You shouldn’t go to sleep. If you do you might have nightmares about a Liberal agreeing with you. *grin*
Go to sleep little cry baby, your intelligence will give you nightmares. LOL
Sue, I would like your response, because I essentially agree with it. But I won’t, because you lost it when you had to mention freakin’ NIMBY and political affiliation.
When you get the NIMBY bashing out of your posts, you might find more will agree with what you might have to say.
Just check your next tax bill and you will most likely find that your property value is the same. If not more.
I’m a liberal, I live in Rockland and I am not against a cell phone tower at the Rockland Golf Course. If I lived near the golf course, I might be against it, though. This is hardly a liberal/conservative issue, it’s a case of people on both sides looking out for their own best interest.
Why can’t they place a few more but lower reach and hidden like in lots of other places within a fake tree or some such envelopment?
Get over it folks the Golf Course can do whatever they want with their land.
Yet, they’ll enjoy improved cell phone reception
Have fun kids:
http://www.utilitycamo.com/sites.html
Cheers~
I love it! I’d like to have a whole row of those Mexican fans’ right outside my house. Then I could put in that outdoor hot tub and be in tropical bliss year round. Thanks for the link washco.
Hmmm, looks like a tough cell.
Build the tower…Bring Maine into the 21st century already…
Those neighbors should really be out protesting, with signs, marches, and parades. God forbid, someone would use those towers to progress with the rest of the world. Get out there folks, you tell the city that you are not putting up with progress.