Residents organize to oppose AM radio towers

BANGOR – A controversial plan to erect an AM radio station on outer Broadway has prompted residents from both sides of Kenduskeag Stream to join forces in an effort to get the city to put a temporary halt on that project and others like it.

The idea is to give the city some time to study the appropriateness of towers and turbines planned for the rural residence and agriculture districts.

The radio station, proposed by Charles A. Hecht and his business partner, Alfredo Alonso of Pittstown, N.J., is planned for a 51.6-acre parcel located at 2110 Broadway, about six-tenths of a mile in town from the intersection of Broadway and Pushaw Road.

Existing development in the area consists of some single-family homes, a few churches and a small store.

Hecht and Alonso received permission to move forward with the project when the city’s planning board voted 3-2 on July 3 to grant them conditional use approval for the station’s four 276-foot-tall radio antennae.

But after residents, many of whom live within view of the station site, expressed their concerns to city councilors, the councilors agreed to consider a six-month moratorium, which would apply to radio, television and telecommunication towers as well as wind turbines.

The moratorium proposal will go before the City Council during its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

At that time, city officials will decide whether they want to impose the delay, which would give the city time to review existing land-use and zoning rules and decide whether they need to be strengthened, updated or otherwise changed.

Connie Lewis is among about a dozen residents of that neighborhood who are opposed to the notion of having four large radio station towers so close to her home.

“Drive out and look,” she said. “It directly affects residents [who live near the site] but it also indirectly affects everyone else,” she said, noting that the towers would be seen from Kenduskeag Stream, home of a nationally known canoe race each spring, and by motorists coming into the city from Glenburn and other northwestern points.

“There are just some things that are irreplaceable,” she said, referring to the scenic land bordering the stream. “Everybody I talk to about it here is just blown away. Shocked,” Lewis said.

She and her husband, Jason, have appealed the planning board’s vote to allow the station in Penobscot County Superior Court.

Beverly Shumaker and Steve Daniels also oppose the project.

Daniels said he hopes the city will “find a more appropriate place” for such towers. Though the towers are allowed in the city’s rural residence and agriculture zones, he said, those areas are becoming more residential than agricultural in nature.

Barbara Wais pointed out that the project could have adverse environmental impacts because the Kenduskeag is a flyway for eagles and home to other wildlife.

One version of the moratorium proposal would make it retroactive to July 1, while the other would have it become effective after council approval, if it is given.

Under state law, the city could not impose a moratorium without first finding that:

. It was needed to prevent a shortage or overburdening of public facilities.

. The city’s existing land use rules are inadequate in terms of being able to prevent “serious public harm” to the natural or human environment.

Defining “serious public harm” could prove tricky, however. Proponents and opponents of the project have presented contradictory health information and data to city councilors.